According to PANews, the recent explosive growth of Memecoin trading activity on Degen Chain has drawn both success and criticism, sparking a debate on platform X. Degen Chain, an L3 network running on Base, which operates on Ethereum, was launched by infrastructure provider Syndicate on March 28th, using Arbitrum Orbit. The network caters to Farcaster Web3 platform users, offering ultra-low-cost transactions for Degen tokens ($DEGEN).
Since its launch, Degen Chain has attracted a significant number of speculators, with early investors reaping substantial profits. One trader who invested less than $7,000 reportedly earned over $2 million. Meanwhile, Farcaster is breaking user activity records, indicating growing interest in L3 chains.
Despite its success, critics like Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron argue against L3 networks, claiming they divert value from Ethereum's base layer. Boiron believes Ethereum does not need L3 network expansion, and that L3's existence is solely to capture the value of the mainnet and transfer it to the L2s building L3. Polygon Labs will not develop L3.
However, Boiron's statements have been challenged. One user commented that Ethereum's L2 "has value on Ethereum," to which Boiron countered, "I don't think L2 value is Ethereum value. If all L3s concentrate on one L2, then Ethereum will basically have no value, and therefore, Ethereum's security will be at risk."
Offchain Labs Senior Partner Manager Peter Haymond, on the other hand, believes L3 has many benefits and does not necessarily deprive Ethereum of value.
Arbitrum Foundation researcher Patrick McCorry was surprised by Boiron's view, stating that L3 seems obvious, especially when it allows L2 to eventually become a settlement layer (i.e., making bridging cheaper) and ultimately rely on Ethereum as the global ordering service + settlement's final arbiter.
Helus Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz appeared to agree with Boiron's perspective in a March 31st tweet, stating, "L3 is basically centralized servers built on top of other centralized servers (L2s) controlled by multisig. In other words, just recreating Web2, but with higher fees, more scams, and worse user experience?"
However, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams rebutted Mumtaz's view in an April 1st tweet, responding, "L3 is actually the same as L2, and not everything needs the same degree of decentralization."
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared his vision for L3 back in 2022, stating that L3 would achieve different scaling purposes by providing "custom functionality." L3 on the blockchain only makes sense when offering different features than L3.
It is worth noting that Polygon Labs is known for various Ethereum L2 scaling solutions, including Polygon and Polygon zkEVM chains, as well as other services. Polygon zkEVM experienced a brief outage over the weekend but has since resumed operations. As Degen Chain gains popularity, the debate over L3 networks continues.
