- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggests the network’s rollup-centric roadmap is not “done.”
- The network’s roadmap priorities have come under scrutiny.
- The recent debate over Ethereum’s priorities comes as preparations for the network’s next major upgrade enter high gear.
Out of a desire to scale, Ethereum‘s roadmap has become significantly rollup-centric in recent years, culminating in the March 2024 Dencun upgrade that has brought fees down across the board. Following the success of the Dencun upgrade, some may argue that this rollup-centric roadmap has been successful. However, according to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, the work is far from over.
Too Soon to Celebrate?
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has suggested that the network’s rollup-centric roadmap is not “done.” Vitalik expressed this view in an X post on Sunday, September 22, in response to criticism from Bankless co-founder David Hoffman.
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Hoffman had called into question Ethereum’s continued prioritization of Layer 2 scaling development efforts following the success of Dencun, urging developers to shift focus back to the Layer 1 chain.
"In a sense, the rollup centric roadmap is already 'done'. We shipped 4844. We have DA. We have cheap L2s. We have more optimizations ahead, but are they a priority? Lets go back and perfect the place where Ethereum created its value in the first place: The L1," Hoffman argued.
Vitalik, however, begged to differ. “I don’t view this as a prioritization issue!” Vitalik stressed, arguing that development efforts geared towards benefiting Layer 2 networks were happening in parallel with Layer 1-focused efforts.
At the same time, the Ethereum co-founder specifically rejected the idea that the Layer 2 roadmap had reached its end goal.
"I do think 'the rollup-centric roadmap is done' is declaring victory much too soon," he contended.
Vitalik argued that despite abundant data availability (DA) claims, the Ethereum network was “only a ~1.3x usage spike away from blob data being full (= 21600 blobs/day),” which could send fees soaring again. According to the Ethereum co-founder, this risk made it necessary for the network to continue improving data availability in parallel with Layer 1 improvements.
DA refers to the guarantee that a network’s transaction information is available for every network participant to verify which, in turn, maintains the network’s integrity. Typically, Ethereum Layer 2 chains ensure DA by posting transaction data to Layer 1. However, Ethereum storage had often proved to be expensive, a cost that Layer 2 networks typically transferred to the end user in fees.
The introduction of blobs with the Dencun upgrade significantly improved DA availability, effectively cutting down fees on Layer 2 chains and Ethereum.
The recent debate over Ethereum’s priorities comes as preparations for the network’s next major upgrade are entering high gear.
Ethereum Pectra Upgrade in Focus
Dubbed Pectra, a portmanteau of Prague and Electra, Ethereum’s next major upgrade was supposed to be a collection of small changes to the network, but it has quickly ballooned into the network’s largest planned hard fork yet. The upgrade’s sheer size forced developers to decide to split it in two during a September 19 meeting.
The first Pectra package slated for early 2025 is billed to implement eight EIPs, the stand out being EIP-7702, a proposal created by Vitalik to make it possible for traditional wallets to become smart wallets for the purpose of certain transactions.
While the components of the second package are not set in stone, key planned upgrades include PeerDAS, which is short for Peer Data Availability Sampling that intends to offer more DA for rollups. Another key planned upgrade is the EVM Object Format (EOF), which is geared towards making the EVM more developer-friendly.
On the Flipside
- Ethereum’s scaling endgame, sharding, is still years away.
Why This Matters
Vitalik Buterin’s statements suggest that Ethereum is not prioritizing Layer 2 improvements over Layer 1. These remarks are particularly important at a time when some industry participants have argued that Layer 2 chains are taking too much value away from Ethereum.
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