Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is not convinced that all the complex features developers want in Ethereum should be built on layer 2 scaling solutions.
People use L2s like Optimism, Polygon, and Arbitrum because they are cheaper and faster than using the Ethereum mainnet. According to L2Beat, at the time of writing, L2 is processing around 75 transactions per second (TPS) compared to the Ethereum mainnet’s steady 12 TPS.
By definition, L2 inherits the security guarantees of the L1 it sits on top of. However, Buterin argued that additional risks may arise if complex functions are built in L2 instead of the base layer.
“If L1 consensus fails, there will be a day of chaos for the core developers, but eventually everything will be fine again,” he wrote. on twitter. “L2 bugs can cause people to permanently lose a lot of money.”
He answered the following questions and mostly agreed. Bitcoin Magazine This is an editor’s tweet criticizing people who overestimate the capabilities of L2.
“I would actually say that it is worth adding very sophisticated L1 features to reduce the code burden on the L2 and make it reasonably simple,” he concludes.
Buterin has recently been focusing on security and making the Ethereum network safe for its users. He recently said he was interested in seeing developers use AI to audit Ethereum’s code and detect bugs.
The new focus on security, the topic of his recent blog post, may be why he changed his stance on L2. He preferred to keep the Ethereum mainnet as simple as possible.
At the 2019 Ethereum meetup in Taipei, Buterin presented his thoughts on scaling solutions, saying, “Layer 1 does not need to be overly complex to optimize its properties.” He also argued that changing L1 will become increasingly difficult over time.
His comments come just a few weeks before the Dencun upgrade was deployed to the Ethereum mainnet. The upgrade introduces EIP-4844, commonly referred to as proto-danksharding. This will dramatically increase transaction speeds and reduce L2 costs.
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