Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the original blueprint for layer-2 (L2) scaling “no longer makes sense,” arguing that many L2s have not truly inherited Ethereum’s security and that future scaling should increasingly come from the mainnet and native rollups.
On X, Buterin wrote that a “new path” is needed because many L2s have failed to achieve sufficient decentralization while the mainnet is already scaling through higher gas limits and the prospect of native rollups. He emphasized that an L2 only counts as Ethereum scaling if it fully relies on L1 guarantees; otherwise it is effectively a separate chain. “If you create a 10,000 TPS EVM where its connection to L1 is mediated by a multisig bridge, then you are not scaling Ethereum,” he said.
Buterin suggested that prominent L2 projects such as Arbitrum, Optimism, Base and Starknet should stop positioning themselves as the singular path for Ethereum scaling and instead specialize in areas where they can add unique value—privacy, identity, finance, social applications and AI being among the suggested niches.
The comments arrive amid a broader debate in the Ethereum community about whether to continue prioritizing L2s or to pursue more on-chain upgrades. Some developers have championed L2s as the primary scaling route, while others have advocated for enhancing base-layer capacity. Those tensions have led to visible moves: former ConsenSys researcher Max Resnick shifted to the Solana ecosystem after his push for mainnet scaling gained limited traction, and podcast host Ryan Sean Adams described Buterin’s position as “the pivot.”
A central technical plank in Buterin’s argument is native rollups. Unlike conventional rollups that execute off-chain and post data to Ethereum, native rollups would be integrated into the base layer so validators directly verify their execution. Buterin expects native rollups—especially designs that use zero-knowledge EVM proofs integrated into the base layer—to play a major role in future scaling.
Mainnet throughput has already benefited from protocol-level changes. A blob-parameter-only hard fork in January raised the gas limit from about 60 million to 80 million, permitting more transactions and contract operations per block and helping reduce fees. Longer-term, researchers envision far larger gains: Justin Drake outlined a roadmap aiming for around 10,000 transactions per second on mainnet once planned scaling features are implemented, a significant jump from the roughly 15–30 TPS typically observed today.
This summary reflects public statements and development discussion; readers should consult primary sources and project documentation for details.