Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin Amps Up Pressure on Layer-2 Networks to Decentralize Further

In 2022, Buterin proposed a set of stages for rollups, to classify them in their pursuit of decentralization. The criteria is meant to showcase that rollups tend to rely on “training wheels” and deploy their protocols to users before it's ready to fully decentralize.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has announced that he will be adjusting his approach to discussing layer 2 (L2) networks in his public statements.

In a recent post on X, Buterin stated that he will now only mention L2 projects that have achieved a specific level of decentralization, which he refers to as "Stage 1" in a hierarchy he proposed earlier.

According to Buterin, projects that fail to meet this threshold will not receive any further attention from him.

“Starting next year, I plan to only publicly mention (in blogs, talks, etc) L2s that are stage 1 ,” wrote Buterin.

"It doesn't matter if I invested, or if you're my friend; stage 1 or bust.”

In 2022, Buterin proposed a set of stages for classifying rollups based on their pursuit of decentralization.

The criteria are designed to highlight a tendency among rollups to deploy their protocols to users before they are fully ready for decentralization, relying on "training wheels" in the process.

“While a project’s tech is still immature, the project launches early anyway to allow the ecosystem to start forming, but instead of relying fully on its fraud proofs or ZK proofs, there is some kind of multisig that has the ability to force a particular outcome in case there are bugs in the code,” explained Buterin in a blog post last year.

In blockchain terminology, multisig refers to a key that can be controlled by combining multiple signatures, typically representing a small group of individuals authorized to make changes under exceptional circumstances, effectively bypassing the standard consensus procedure used to validate the network.

Buterin's Three Stages of Decentralization for L2s

Buterin's proposed stages for L2 rollups range from 0 to 2, with 0 indicating the highest level of centralization and 2 indicating a fully decentralized project.

At Stage 0, an L2 network would be fully reliant on training wheels, while at Stage 1, it would have limited training wheels and be operating with fraud proofs.

Finally, at Stage 2, a project would be considered fully decentralized without any training wheels.

L2Beat, a dashboard that tracks layer-2 protocols, provides an overview of how different projects fare in terms of Buterin's stages.

Currently, none of the leading rollups have yet achieved Stage 2.

Among the protocols, only Arbitrum One, OP Mainnet, and zkSync lite have reached Stage 1.

“The era of rollups being glorified multisigs is coming to an end," wrote Buterin on X.

"The era of cryptographic trust is upon us.”

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