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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the original vision for layer 2 networks on the blockchain “no longer makes sense,” arguing that rollups should stop presenting themselves as extensions of Ethereum’s base layer and instead focus on distinct features beyond simple scaling.
In a post on X, Buterin said two developments had forced him to rethink the role of L2s: progress toward fully trustless “stage 2” rollups has been “far slower and more difficult than originally expected,” and Ethereum’s main chain is itself scaling, with low fees today and gas limits projected to rise in 2026.
Both developments, he wrote, undermine the idea of L2s as “branded shards” of Ethereum that directly extend the main chain’s security guarantees.
In the earlier roadmap, Ethereum was meant to scale by creating much more block space that inherited Ethereum’s full security guarantees, giving users confidence that transactions with ETH and other assets could not be blocked or rolled back as long as the main chain continued to operate.
On that definition, he said, a fast EVM chain that only connects to Ethereum through a simple multisig bridge controlled by a small group of key holders does not count as “scaling Ethereum.”
Buterin now argues that this strict standard is neither necessary nor realistic for most rollups. Some teams, he noted, openly say they may stay at “stage 1,” where an admin group or upgrade council still has the power to intervene. In those cases, the extra control is kept not only for technical reasons, such as managing ZK-EVM risks, but also to meet regulatory or compliance demands from their users.
“This may be doing the right thing for your customers,” he wrote, but it means those systems are not scaling Ethereum in the strict sense implied by the “rollup-centric” roadmap.
From ‘Branded Shards’ to a Spectrum of L2s
Buterin urged the community to stop treating L2s as if they are officially sanctioned shards of Ethereum with corresponding social responsibilities. Instead, he suggested viewing them as a spectrum of chains with varying degrees of attachment to Ethereum, from those that truly lean on its security to others that are more independent and make different trade-offs.
“What would I do today if I were an L2?” he asked, before setting out a checklist.
First, he said, rollups should define a value proposition beyond generic “scaling.” He pointed to several possible directions, including non-EVM virtual machines focused on privacy, chains tailored to a single application, designs targeting “truly extreme” throughput beyond what an expanded Ethereum base layer will offer, platforms for non-financial uses such as social identity or AI, sequencing systems with ultra-low latency, and protocols that build in oracles, decentralized dispute resolution, and other features that cannot be fully verified by computation alone.
Second, he argued that any chain dealing with ETH or Ethereum-issued assets should at least meet “stage 1” standards. Otherwise, he said, “You really are just a separate L1 with a bridge, and you should just call yourself that.”
Third, he called for “maximum interoperability” with Ethereum, while acknowledging that how this is achieved will differ between networks, especially for those that are not EVM-based or not focused on finance.
Call for a Native Rollup Precompile
On Ethereum’s side, Buterin said recent discussions had strengthened his support for adding a built-in tool that can verify rollup proofs directly on the network once that technology is used to help scale the base layer.
He described this precompile as a built-in verifier that is “part of Ethereum,” meaning it automatically upgrades as the protocol changes and can be fixed by a hard fork if a bug is discovered.
Making this verification a native part of Ethereum, he said, would allow rollups to prove their EVM activity directly on the main chain without depending on security councils or other governance backstops.
He suggested a design where, if an L2 is “EVM plus other stuff,” Ethereum’s built-in precompile would check the EVM part, while the rollup provides its own proofs for any extra features.
In his view, this kind of structure would allow safer, more trust-minimized interoperability with Ethereum and makes it possible for different rollups to interact in real time using proofs, instead of relying on slower bridge mechanisms.
“Make Guarantees Clear to Users”
Buterin acknowledged that a more flexible ecosystem means some teams will “add things that are trust-dependent, or backdoored, or otherwise insecure.” In a permissionless environment where developers are free to experiment, he said, this is unavoidable.
“Our job,” he concluded, “should be to make it clear to users what guarantees they have and to build up the strongest Ethereum that we can.”
