Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has announced a change in how he will discuss Layer 2 (L2) projects starting next year.
In a September 12 post on X, Buterin said he would only publicly recognize L2s that have reached Stage 1 or higher in their decentralization efforts, regardless of his investment.
He said:
“I take this seriously. Starting next year, I plan to only publicly mention (in blogs, conferences, etc.) L2s that are stage 1+, with “maybe a short grace period” for really interesting new projects. It doesn’t matter if I invested or if you are my friend; stage 1 or nothing.”
Buterin outlined the criteria for Level 1+ clusters. He said a network would need a 75% consensus of the council to bypass the proof system, with at least 26% of council members independent of the cluster.
Buterin stressed that his requests were reasonable and necessary for network security. He said:
“Step 1 (75% board threshold to override the proof system, 26%+ board must be outside the implementation team) is a very reasonable moderate step. The multisigs I work in haven’t had a single liveness failure in years, let alone 26%.”
The Ethereum co-founder concluded that “the era of glorified rollups like multisigs is coming to an end. The era of cryptographic trust has arrived.”
Criticism of Layer 2 Networks
Buterin’s current stance comes as Ethereum layer-2 networks have recently come under fire for their centralized structures.
Last month, Justin Bons of Cyber Capital expressed concerns, saying that these networks pose risks due to their centralization, potentially allowing them to steal users’ funds.
However, Buterin countered that highly decentralized L2 solutions cannot take users’ funds without reaching a strong consensus.
Meanwhile, these debates are taking place as Ethereum’s Layer 2 networks, including Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, and zkSync, have seen explosive growth. Already, over 80% of Ethereum transactions now take place on L2 solutions, and there are growing indications that their growth will only accelerate due to their high level of adoption.
