Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Discusses L1 and L2

Co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has shared his thoughts on the trade-offs between Layer 1 and Layer 2, stating that he is no longer confident that Layer 2s are better than Layer 1s. 

Buterin seemed to favor enhancing Layer 1 features to lower the burden on Layer 2 solutions. 

Buterin Not A Fan Of Simplifying Layer 1s 

Vitalik Buterin took to X (formerly Twitter) to state that he is not confident in the concept of simplifying Layer 1s at the cost of complicated Layer 2s. According to Buterin, it isn’t clear if current Layer 2 blockchains are better than Layer 1 blockchains. Buterin stated on X that he is three times less confident in simplifying L1s at the cost of L2s. 

“Honestly, I’m about 3x less confident in the “simplify L1 even at the expense of more complicated L2s” concept than I was five years ago. The challenge is that when you can trade off between L1 bug risk and L2 bug risk, it’s not actually clear that the latter is better.”

In his posts, Buterin seemed to advocate enhancing Layer 1 features to lower the existing burden on Layer 2 solutions. This train of thought marked a departure from his earlier views. 

A Nuanced Understanding 

Buterin gave an example to back up his point of view and gave an example where there is a consensus failure in a Layer 1 blockchain. He stated that in such a situation, stuff breaks, and developers scramble around for a day, but eventually, the bug is fixed, and everything returns to normal. A Layer 2 bug is far more consequential, and people could end up losing a lot of money permanently. 

“If you have an L1 consensus failure, stuff breaks, core devs scramble for a day, but eventually things are alright again. With an L2 bug, people could permanently lose lots of money. So I would say it can actually be worth adding some pretty sophisticated L1 features to reduce the code burden of L2s and allow them to be reasonably simple.”

This led to Buterin advocating for the integration of advanced features at the Layer 1 level and helping simplify Layer 2 solutions for developers and users. Buterin put forward his views in a conversation with Bitcoin enthusiast Leo Fernevak, who stated that scaling will not happen on the base layer, claiming that complex features could be built on Layer 2s, adding that the base layer will always end up getting filled up regardless of efforts at scaling. 

Balance Needed 

The Ethereum co-founder’s comments highlight the importance of achieving a balance between the layers of Ethereum’s blockchain technology; Layer 1 is the base Ethereum protocol, while Layer 2 is the off-chain solutions that have been built on top of Layer 1 to help improve scalability and efficiency. Addressing risks and vulnerabilities in both layers can help developers create a secure and user-friendly blockchain ecosystem. 

Back in October, Buterin had talked about Ethereum’s Layer 2 ecosystem, highlighting its quick expansion. He noted the trend towards varied Layer 2 solutions, with projects looking to align themselves with the Ethereum ecosystem or exploring other blockchain-based security enhancements.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.