Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, joined the discussion about the value of Layer 3 (L3) solutions for the Ethereum ecosystem, referring to his post from a year and a half ago.
Re-upping my post from 1.5 years ago on "layer 3s":https://t.co/iHWEgPA7Hl
The summary is that layer 3s don't magically improve throughput even more, though they can reduce some fixed costs of batch publishing and deposits/withdrawals.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) April 2, 2024
Over the weekend, there was a debate about the usefulness of L3 protocols for the Ethereum ecosystem. Some speakers highlighted the benefits of such solutions, while others criticized them. One of the most influential critics was Mark Boaron, CEO of Polygon Labs, who explained why his team does not engage in such projects. The main point was that Layer 3 networks not only do not help with Ethereum scaling but can also pose a threat to its security.
He attached a link to his article titled “What kinds of L3 make sense?” published in September 2022. In it, Buterin expressed the opinion that this category of networks is not directly intended for scaling. Instead, such protocols would implement specific “custom functions” for L2, he speculated at the time.
However, there are other, potentially "lighter", ways to get the same cost savings that you get from L3s. pic.twitter.com/WTijiTAOE1
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) April 2, 2024
It’s worth noting that the Ethereum co-founder believes that after the Dencun update, the focus should be on improving L2 networks for blockchain scalability.
