Vitalik Questions L2 Scaling Path, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base Respond Collectively on "Dehomogenization" Direction

BlockBeats News, February 4th, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently stated that the initial idea of Layer 2 as Ethereum's primary scaling solution is "no longer tenable," and called for Layer 2 networks to evolve towards a more specialized direction. This statement quickly prompted responses from major L2 teams such as Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, and others.

Vitalik pointed out that many L2 solutions still rely on multi-sig bridges and have not been able to fully inherit Ethereum's security; at the same time, with the increase in the Gas limit and the progress of native Rollup solutions, Ethereum's mainnet throughput is increasing. In this context, the positioning of Layer 2 needs to be reconsidered.

Optimism Foundation co-founder Karl Floersch stated support for building a modular Layer 2 that covers the "entire decentralization spectrum," but also acknowledged current challenges such as long withdrawal periods, immature Stage 2 proof mechanisms, and insufficient cross-chain tools.

Arbitrum's development team Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder emphasized that scaling is still the core value of Layer 2. He believes that even with the improvement in Ethereum's mainnet capacity, it is difficult to replace the role of Layer 2 in processing thousands of TPS during peak times. He also warned that if Ethereum is not Rollup-friendly, institutions may choose to opt for independent Layer 1 solutions.

Base's lead Jesse Pollak stated that Ethereum L1 scaling "is beneficial for the entire ecosystem," while also agreeing that L2 cannot just be "a cheaper Ethereum." He pointed out that Base is forming its own characteristics through application-layer differentiation, account abstraction, privacy features, and other directions.

In addition, StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson hinted on social media that ZK-native L2 solutions (such as Starknet) have to some extent aligned with Vitalik's proposed specialized direction. Overall, L2 builders generally accept the trend of "dehomogenization and repositioning," but there are still differences regarding whether "scaling is still the core mission."