Vitalik Buterin, the visionary founder of Ethereum (ETH), recently expressed concern about the growing complexity of Layer 2 (L2) solutions within blockchain technology. Regarding X, Buterin points out the potential risks of overly complicated L2 networks. While networks like Optimism (OP) and Polygon (MATIC) have gained enormous popularity in recent years.
To be honest, I’m about three times less convinced of the concept of “simplify L1, even at the expense of more complicated L2s” than I was five years ago. The challenge is that if one can trade-off between L1 error risk and L2 error risk, it is not really clear that the latter is better!
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 21, 2024
Layer-1 vs. Layer-2
Layer 1 (L1) networks form the foundation in the blockchain landscape, including Ethereum and Bitcoin (BTC). L2s, on the other hand, support L1 networks with the aim of improving transaction processing and reducing costs while maintaining security and decentralization. This additional layer has led to a variety of solutions such as: B. Rollups, sidechains and state channels.
According to Buterin, the developments surrounding increasingly complex L2 solutions are not necessarily a positive trend. Although these are intended to improve the scalability of blockchain networks, they also bring with them new risks. While L1 networks can generally recover quickly from failures or consensus problems, bugs in the code of L2 solutions can lead to permanent financial losses for users, Buterin said.
That’s why Buterin advocates a more balanced approach:
“It might be worth adding some fairly advanced L1 features to reduce the code burden on L2s and make them relatively simple.”
The intended result? Reduce errors and financial risk for users.
Buterin is looking forward to Verkle Trees
Buterin also revealed earlier this week that he is looking forward to a future network update aimed at implementing “Verkle Trees.” This adjustment is intended to significantly improve the functionality of the network.
Technological advances will reduce hardware requirements for network nodes and dramatically reduce synchronization time, making staking more accessible to a wider audience. The introduction of Verkle Trees enables a stateless validator client, allowing nodes to operate with minimal disk space and synchronize with the network almost instantly.
This development is a step forward towards a more efficient and inclusive ecosystem where more people can participate in staking without the need for advanced hardware.