Has Ethereum really succeeded in scaling?
Since 2020, indeed more than $38.5 billion in value has been transferred to L2 and even L3. This sounds like a glorious achievement—unfortunately, behind this prosperity lies the 'fragmentation crisis'. #caldera
1. The Isolated Dilemma of Rollup Solutions
The current rollup solution ecosystem resembles a series of isolated 'digital city-states'. They face three awkward issues:
Isolation from one another: To interconnect, one can only revert to the Ethereum main chain. Unfortunately, this approach is both slow and expensive, leading to a user experience that is discouraging.
Isolation from infrastructure: Each bridge and oracle must be deployed separately for different chains, equivalent to reinventing the wheel over and over.
Isolation from users: Most users are forced to be 'spectators' rather than genuinely participating in the operation and validation of the network.
Simply put, these rollup solutions are not a large network but rather isolated small islands.
2. Finding Answers from History
If this sounds familiar, it is not surprising. In the early days of the internet, different networks and protocols operated independently, making communication difficult. The real breakthrough came with the birth of TCP/IP, which provided a common language, leading to explosive growth later on.
3. The Role of #Caldera ($ERA )
Inspired by this history, Volcano @Calderaxyz ($ERA ) proposed the concept of Metalayer, aiming to become the 'TCP/IP' of Ethereum rollup solutions. In other words, it is not about building new city-states, but about creating a unified road network that allows all L2s and L3s to interconnect and share infrastructure, enabling users to truly become participants rather than merely passive consumers.
Conclusion
The emergence of #caldera is not just about simply solving the 'inconvenience of cross-chain' problem; it is about establishing a long-term sustainable foundation for the entire Ethereum scaling ecosystem. Through Metalayer, Caldera connects the disparate rollup solutions, allowing infrastructure, developers, and users to genuinely share the same network effect. This not only resembles how TCP/IP changed the history of the internet but may also open a new wave of innovation for Ethereum, pushing Web3 towards a more mature and open future.
