Ethereum ($ETH ) co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his concerns about increasing complexity in the network's second layer (L2) scalability solutions. In a series of tweets, he argued that some advanced functionality should be implemented in the base layer (L1) to reduce the risk of failures in L2s.
L2 solutions such as Optimism, Polygon and Arbitrum allow users to transact faster and cheaper than on the Ethereum mainnet, which suffers from congestion and high gas fees. However, these solutions rely on the security and functionality of L1, which is simpler and more robust.
Buterin stated that if L1 is too simplified to the detriment of L2s, this could bring systemic risks to the ecosystem. He exemplified that if there is a consensus flaw in L1, developers can quickly fix it, but if there is a bug in L2, users can permanently lose a lot of money.
"Honestly, I'm about 3x less confident in the concept of 'simplifying the L1 even at the expense of more complicated L2s' than I was five years ago. The challenge is that when you can trade off between the risk of a bug in the L1 and the risk of bug in L2, it's not clear that the latter is better!" he wrote.
Buterin suggested that it might be worth adding some rather sophisticated L1 functionality to reduce the code load of L2s and allow them to be simpler. He didn't specify what those features would be, but said he was interested in seeing artificial intelligence being used to help audit Ethereum's code and detect bugs.
Buterin's discussion comes as Ethereum prepares to release its Dencun upgrade, scheduled for March 13. The upgrade aims to improve gas efficiency and network security, as well as pave the way for the transition to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which is expected to make Ethereum more scalable and sustainable.
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