Vitalik Buterin says L2 scaling vision "no longer reasonable," calls for stronger specialization

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said his original vision of Layer 2 networks as Ethereum's primary scaling engine "is no longer reasonable" and called for L2s to pursue stronger specialization, BlockBeats reports. He noted many L2s still rely on multisig bridges without fully inheriting Ethereum's security, while rising gas limits and native rollup advances are boosting mainnet throughput and prompting a reassessment of L2's role. Optimism Foundation co-founder Karl Floersch said he supports modular L2 designs across the decentralization spectrum but acknowledged issues including long withdrawal times, immature Stage 2 proof systems and limited cross-chain tooling, while Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder argued scaling remains L2's core value and warned institutions may choose independent Layer 1 chains if Ethereum proves unfriendly to rollups. Base lead Jesse Pollak and StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson each highlighted differentiation through account abstraction, privacy features and ZK-native L2s as aligning with the specialization trend.