Ethereum L2s face identity shift after Vitalik Buterin comments

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Yaroslav Dmytrenko

04.02.2026

Ethereum L2s face identity shift after Vitalik Buterin comments — Layer 2 projects clash over scaling role in Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin’s controversial statement that Ethereum L2s must move beyond a pure focus on scaling has triggered mixed reactions from crypto project teams. Some say they had already come to the same conclusion long ago, while others made it clear they can move forward without Ethereum’s founder.

In a post on X published Wednesday, Buterin questioned the rationale of continuing to treat Layer 2 networks as Ethereum’s primary scaling solution. He noted that Ethereum itself is moving toward higher transaction throughput. At the same time, many L2 projects have not fully adopted Ethereum’s security guarantees and still rely on multisignature bridges, exposing the broader ecosystem to risk.

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“Progress of L2s to Stage 2 (and, secondarily, to interoperability) has been much slower and more difficult than originally expected. L1 itself is scaling, fees are very low, and gas limits are projected to increase significantly in 2026. Both of these facts, for their own reasons, mean that the original vision of L2s and their role in Ethereum no longer makes sense, and we need a new path,” Buterin wrote.

Teams behind major L2 networks responded quickly, but their reactions varied. While most agreed that rollups should do more than simply offer cheaper transactions, project leaders differed on whether scalability should remain the core priority.

Karl Floersch, co-founder of the Optimism Foundation, wrote on X that he welcomes the challenge of building a flexible Layer 2 system spanning “the full spectrum of decentralization.” He also highlighted several unresolved issues, including long withdrawal times, the lack of production-ready Stage 2 proofs, and weak tooling for cross-chain applications.

“Stage 2 is not production-ready,” Floersch said, explaining that current proofs are not secure enough to protect major bridges. He supported Buterin’s recent proposal to add a native Ethereum precompile for rollups to simplify trustless verification.

Arbitrum chooses independence

Steven Goldfeder of Offchain Labs, the team behind Arbitrum, took a firmer stance, arguing that while the rollup model has evolved, scaling still matters for L2 networks. Arbitrum, he said, was not built as “a service for Ethereum.” Instead, the team chose Ethereum for its strong security guarantees and low settlement costs, which enable large-scale rollups.

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Goldfeder rejected the idea that an upgraded Ethereum mainnet could match the throughput currently achieved by L2s. He pointed to instances where Arbitrum and Base each processed over 1,000 transactions per second, while Ethereum handled significantly fewer.

“Companies can build standalone Layer 1 blockchains instead of using Ethereum if they feel the network is holding rollups back,” Goldfeder warned.

Jesse Pollak, head of Base, agreed with Buterin that L2s must offer more than “just Ethereum, but cheaper.” Pollak said Base is focused on onboarding new users and developers while progressing toward Stage 2 decentralization. Features such as improved applications, account abstraction, and privacy tools align with the direction outlined by Buterin, he added.

Meanwhile, Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of StarkWare, which develops the non-EVM Starknet rollup, responded succinctly on X: “Say Starknet without saying Starknet,” suggesting that some zero-knowledge L2s already fulfill the specialized role described by Buterin.

According to Cryptopolitan, the debate among Ethereum ecosystem leaders highlights a shift in Ethereum’s development path, as the main network gains new capabilities and Layer 2 platforms redefine their future role beyond simple scaling.

As we wrote, Vitalik Buterin sells ETH for philanthropy as prices slide

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