Key Points
- Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s founder, opposes the use of L3s, suggesting “lighter” alternatives.
- The debate around Ethereum’s L3s continues, with several industry figures echoing Buterin’s sentiments.
Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, has expressed his opposition to the use of L3s.
His stance adds to the growing number of critics of the three-layered architecture.
The L3 Debate
The L3 debate came to light following the rapid growth of Degen Chain, an L3 on Base, shortly after its launch.
Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon, labeled L3s as a security risk for Ethereum and expressed concern over their potential to devalue ETH.
Buterin, however, suggests that there are less risky alternatives to L3s.
Buterin’s Stance on L3s
Buterin’s position on L3s has remained consistent since 2017, when he first voiced his reservations about the three-layered architecture.
He acknowledged that while L3s can reduce some fixed costs of batch publishing and deposits/withdrawals, they do not improve transaction throughput.
Instead, he advocates for “lighter” cryptographic tools known as SNARKs (Succinct, Non-interactive Arguments of Knowledge), which he believes could efficiently address the issues that L3s are trying to solve.
Other industry figures, including Cem Ozer of Sovereign Labs and Sreeram Kannan, founder of Eigen Layer, have echoed Buterin’s sentiments.
They argue that L2s can communicate with each other without the need for L3s, making the complex hierarchy of a three-layered architecture unnecessary.
The future of L3s remains uncertain, with the ongoing debate showing significant opposition to their use.
