Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has questioned the long-held belief that layer-2 networks should be the primary engine for scaling Ethereum, arguing that the original L2 vision “no longer makes sense.”
In a post on X on Tuesday, Buterin said many layer-2s have failed to properly inherit Ethereum’s security model, with some relying on centralized components such as multisig bridges. According to him, this undermines the idea that L2s are truly “scaling Ethereum.”
There have recently been some discussions on the ongoing role of L2s in the Ethereum ecosystem, especially in the face of two facts:
* L2s’ progress to stage 2 (and, secondarily, on interop) has been far slower and more difficult than originally expected
* L1 itself is scaling,…— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 3, 2026
He added that Ethereum’s mainnet is now scaling more effectively than before, thanks to ongoing gas limit increases and upcoming upgrades such as native rollups, prompting the need for a new roadmap.
Layer-2s should pivot from scaling to specialization
Layer-2 networks were originally designed to process transactions cheaply and quickly while inheriting Ethereum’s decentralization and security guarantees. But Buterin argued that many L2s have fallen short of this goal, particularly in decentralization and censorship resistance.
Rather than competing on scalability, he suggested that layer-2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, Base and Starknet should focus on specific use cases where they can add unique value. These include privacy, digital identity, finance, social applications and AI-driven platforms.
Native rollups and gas limit increases take center stage
Buterin said he is increasingly confident that native rollups integrated directly into Ethereum’s protocol will play a central role in scaling the mainnet. Unlike traditional rollups, native rollups allow Ethereum validators to directly verify transaction execution, strengthening security.
He also pointed to increases in the gas limit as a near-term scaling lever. In December, Ethereum developers discussed raising the gas limit from 60 million to 80 million following the second blob-parameter-only hard fork, which went live in January. A higher gas limit would allow more transactions per block, improving throughput and potentially reducing fees.
Support for the shift has grown within the Ethereum community. Bankless co-host Ryan Sean Adams described Buterin’s remarks as a turning point, saying,
“This is the pivot. Strong ETH, strong L1.”
Ethereum researcher Justin Drake previously outlined a long-term roadmap targeting 10,000 transactions per second on the mainnet over the next decade, a significant leap from the current 15–30 TPS.
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