Headline: Vitalik Buterin urges rethink of Ethereum’s L2-first strategy — calls for “new path” as L1 scales and some rollups fall short Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin on Tuesday said the ecosystem needs “a new path” with less reliance on layer‑2 (L2) rollups, arguing the original L2-centric roadmap no longer fits where the network is headed. In an X post on Feb. 3, 2026, Buterin argued that two shifts have undermined the old playbook: L2 projects have been slower and harder to move from early, semi‑trusted designs to fully decentralized “stage 2” implementations than expected, and the Ethereum base layer (L1) itself is scaling faster than anticipated. “The original vision of L2s and their role in Ethereum no longer makes sense,” he wrote. Why this matters - For years, Ethereum developers saw L2s — third‑party rollups such as Base, Polygon, Arbitrum and Optimism — as the primary route to scale transaction capacity without sacrificing decentralization and security. - Buterin says some L2 teams are unwilling or unable to meet the decentralization properties required of a true “branded shard” of Ethereum. He pointed to cases where projects have signaled they may remain at “stage 1” (limited decentralization and security guarantees) indefinitely, sometimes for regulatory or customer‑control reasons. - The co‑founder warned that marketing that simply promises “scaling Ethereum” will no longer be a sufficient pitch for those projects. Stage 1 vs. stage 2 — a quick refresher Buterin first outlined the stage framework in 2022: stage 1 L2s use “training wheels” — designs that trade some decentralization or trust assumptions for convenience or performance — while stage 2 L2s aim for full decentralization and strong trustlessness. The gap between those stages has proven politically and technically difficult to bridge for many rollups, he said. A new mental model: L2s as a spectrum Rather than treating every L2 as an equal extension of Ethereum, Buterin urged the community to view L2s as a spectrum. Some networks will meet Ethereum’s standards and effectively act like branded shards; others will deliberately trade off decentralization for features (regulatory compliance, custodial convenience, or business requirements). That reality, he argued, should shape how developers and users evaluate projects. “What would I do today if I were an L2?” Buterin asked rhetorically. “Identify a value‑add other than ‘scaling.’” His comment is likely to prompt a recalibration among rollups and the teams that build on them, nudging projects to emphasize unique product advantages beyond the broad promise of scaling Ethereum. Implications Buterin’s remarks could be a watershed moment for L2 development and marketing. If the community adopts his framing, some rollups may pivot their messaging and product roadmaps to focus on differentiated value propositions — for example, privacy, compliance, specialized execution environments, or vertical integrations — rather than relying primarily on the “scale Ethereum” narrative. The debate also raises governance and trust questions for users, developers, and institutions deciding which rollups to trust as the Ethereum ecosystem continues to evolve. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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