Ethereum Layer 2 experience has been criticized and the community is hotly debated
Recently, Camila Russo, the founder of the decentralized financial media platform The Defiant, posted a post on social media X, severely criticizing Ethereum’s Layer 2 experience. She said:
"If you're a native user of cryptocurrency, the experience is terrible. Worse, the experience is painful. If you're new to it... it's simply unacceptable and completely unusable."
Russo emphasized that transactions on Ethereum now often require switching between multiple Layer 2s. For example, users may mint tokens on one chain, participate in airdrops on another chain, receive stablecoins on a different chain, etc. She noted that it is not enough to use just one chain or have multiple chains within a single ecosystem; seamless interaction across all Layer 2 and mainnet is critical for usability.
Image source: Camila Russo, founder of X The Defiant, issued a post criticizing Ethereum’s Layer 2 experience
In addition, although technical solutions such as Account Abstraction already exist, she said that most of these technologies have not been implemented by wallets and protocols and have limited impact on user experience. Russo believes that improving the user experience of Ethereum requires cross-ecosystem coordination, which is already very difficult. If everyone fools themselves into saying "it's not that bad," then achieving this goal will become impossible.
V God responded strongly: Focus on the future and don’t have to defend the status quo
In response, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin (V God) responded early on Tuesday. He said that when people feel "powerless" to build the future, they tend to defend existing shortcomings. But he emphasized: "We are building the future." He cited his previous article on the cross-Layer2 interoperability roadmap and pointed out that there is no need to defend the current shortcomings.
Vitalik believes that the Ethereum community should focus on future development rather than getting caught up in defending the status quo. He emphasized that achieving simpler cross-Layer2 interactions requires the cooperation of technology and community to establish consistent standards and ultimately create a consistent experience between Layer1 and Layer2 of Ethereum.
"If we are serious about the idea that Layer 2 is part of Ethereum, we need to make using the Layer 2 ecosystem feel like using a unified Ethereum ecosystem," he said.
Source: X Vitalik responded to criticism, saying that Ethereum is building the future and does not need to defend the current situation.
Cross-Layer2 interoperability is the focus of future development
Vitalik detailed plans to improve cross-Layer 2 interoperability, aiming to make the Ethereum ecosystem feel more unified by reducing reliance on centralized elements and simplifying cross-chain transactions. He proposed several solutions, including standardizing chain-specific addresses, payment requests, and key storage wallets, allowing assets to move between Layer 2 more seamlessly while reducing gas fees.
He discussed these ideas further in a previous blog post (The Surge), the second in a series of six posts this month about future possibilities for the Ethereum protocol. Vitalik pointed out that the Rollup-centric roadmap will continue to be the main feature expansion strategy of the network, but it still faces unique challenges. He emphasized the need to increase transaction speed to 100,000 transactions per second, including Layer1 and Layer2.
Image source: Vitalik Buterin Vitalik quoted from his article: "The Rollup-centric roadmap will continue to be the main expansion strategy of the network, but it still faces unique challenges."
“Our mission is to address these issues with a Rollup-centric roadmap, while maintaining the robustness and decentralized nature of Ethereum Layer 1,” Vitalik said. He also discussed further development of data availability sampling and expansion capabilities for Ethereum. Other solutions at the grassroots level.
Vitalik’s response and plans show the Ethereum team’s vision for the future and calls on the community to work together to overcome existing challenges and achieve a better user experience.
Further reading
FUD Ethereum all over the network! Buterin responded: I didn’t sell any of them, and I shouldn’t be criticized for sponsoring development!
V God’s ambition! Ethereum aims to reach 100,000 TPS, revealing four major goals in the Surge phase
Just hold 1 ETH to verify! Ethereum V God proposes to lower the verification threshold and accelerate decentralization
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