Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently sparked a wave of discussion across the crypto world with his latest social media remarks, declaring that Ethereum’s once rollup-centric Layer 2 (L2) roadmap "is no longer applicable."
This statement is widely seen as a major revision to Ethereum’s mainstream narrative over the past five years.
Back in 2020, Vitalik introduced the "rollup-centric" scaling roadmap, positioning L2s as Ethereum’s "branded shards." At the time, Ethereum was mired in the so-called "noble chain" dilemma, with average transaction fees soaring to a historic high of $53.16 in May 2021.
Roadmap Revision: Why Vitalik Is Changing Course Now
The Ethereum community is facing a fundamental shift in direction. In early February 2026, Vitalik Buterin made it clear: "The original vision of the rollup-centric roadmap is no longer applicable."
This marks a significant pivot in Ethereum’s scaling strategy. Looking back to 2020, Vitalik first proposed the rollup-centric roadmap, treating L2s as Ethereum’s "branded shards."
At that time, mainnet fees were skyrocketing—average transaction costs hit $53.16 in May 2021. During the peak of the NFT boom, gas prices briefly exceeded 500 gwei. In contrast, competing chains like Solana emerged with throughput in the tens of thousands of transactions per second and ultra-low fees of just $0.00025, posing a direct challenge to Ethereum’s dominance.
The turning point came as Ethereum’s mainnet capabilities improved dramatically. As of January 2026, average transaction fees on Ethereum had dropped to about $0.44, a decline of more than 99% from the 2021 peak.
Even more importantly, Ethereum core developers plan to raise the gas limit from 60 million to 200 million in the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade in 2026, which is expected to keep Layer 1 fees stable below $0.50.
The Reality Check: Why L2 Decentralization Has Stalled
One of the main reasons behind Vitalik’s change in stance is the slow progress of L2 decentralization. According to his observations, most L2s remain stuck at "Stage 0," relying on centralized security councils or multisig setups.
Only a handful of projects have achieved "Stage 1" decentralized governance, and there’s still a significant gap before reaching the fully trustless "Stage 2."
A sharp conflict has emerged between commercial interests and technical ideals. Vitalik pointedly noted that some projects "explicitly state they don’t want to go beyond Stage 1."
On one hand, there are technical concerns about ZK-EVM security. On the other, client regulatory requirements often demand that teams retain ultimate protocol control. Vitalik didn’t mince words: "If you do this, then you’re not ‘scaling Ethereum.’"
Take a concrete example: Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs raised $120 million in a Series B round in 2021, reaching a $1.2 billion valuation.
Yet, this platform—holding over $15 billion in total value locked and commanding about 41% of the Layer 2 market—remains at Stage 1.
Strategic Shift: L2s Must Move Beyond Simple Scaling
Facing these new realities, Vitalik has called for a clear strategic shift: L2s must move beyond simple scaling and deliver unique value. He stated, "We should stop viewing L2s as ‘branded shards of Ethereum’ and instead see them as a spectrum of products with different security assumptions and feature sets."
Under this new framework, L2s are encouraged to carve out distinct market positions—potentially focusing on privacy, non-financial applications, low-latency trading, or specialized virtual machine designs.
Vitalik specifically highlighted several promising areas for specialization: privacy-focused virtual machines, non-EVM VMs, extreme scalability, ultra-low latency, and built-in oracles.
Some L2 projects are already responding to this new direction. Polygon CEO Marc Boiron commented, "Vitalik’s view isn’t that rollups are wrong, but that scaling alone isn’t enough."
Jesse Pollak, head of Coinbase-backed Base, emphasized: "Looking ahead, L2 solutions can’t just be ‘Ethereum but cheaper.’"
Optimism Foundation co-founder and OP Labs CEO Jing Wang offered a striking analogy: "L2s are like websites. Every company will have its own L2, tailored to its needs. Ethereum is an open settlement standard."
Ecosystem Shakeup: From Industry Insights to Market Moves
Vitalik’s bold remarks triggered an immediate chain reaction in the crypto markets. Analysts began to reassess the entire L2 investment thesis, with some even predicting a "massive Darwinian purge" of general-purpose L2 tokens by the end of 2026.
Community analysis shows a notable economic imbalance between current L2s and Ethereum mainnet. Take Base as an example: the platform reportedly generated over $75 million in revenue last year but paid only about $1.52 million in fees to Ethereum, resulting in profit margins around 98%.
This imbalance may be addressed after the implementation of EIP-7918, which will set a price floor and force L2s to contribute more revenue to the base layer.
As of February 6, 2026, the price of Ethereum had fallen below the critical $2,000 psychological threshold. Overall market sentiment has turned cautious, with analysts widely agreeing that unless L2s can deliver differentiated features that the mainnet cannot, they will face existential challenges.
User Maigoro wrote on the CoinMarketCap forum: "Undifferentiated ‘copy-paste’ public chains will slowly bleed out as capital consolidates."
Liquid Capital founder Yihuai Yi also admitted publicly on February 2: "It was indeed a mistake to go bullish on ETH too early after selling at the top."
Looking Ahead: The Opportunity for Specialized L2s
Guided by Vitalik’s new framework, the Ethereum ecosystem is undergoing a profound transformation. While the general-purpose L2 narrative faces headwinds, specialized L2s are entering a window of opportunity.
Vitalik himself has stated that Ethereum should simultaneously pursue mainnet scaling and native technical upgrades, such as integrating ZK-EVM verification at the protocol level to reduce external trust dependencies on L2s. This also creates space for L2 teams capable of delivering "extreme scaling that’s hard to achieve on mainnet."
On the technical side, Vitalik supports native rollup precompiles, leveraging built-in ZK-EVM to enable EVM verification and composability without security councils. This upgrade will allow L2s to prove only their additional features, while clearly communicating their security guarantees to users.
For investors looking to capitalize on this shift, there are several areas to watch: L2 projects focused on privacy, high-frequency trading, or specific DeFi applications; projects that have reached Stage 1 decentralization and are actively progressing toward Stage 2; and L2s that have built mature ecosystems in DeFi, gaming, or social applications.
User CryptoEmpressX summed it up succinctly: "Ethereum isn’t killing L2s—it’s forcing them to evolve."
As rollup precompiles make direct L2-to-L1 connections possible, specialized L2s with unique value propositions will find their place in the new Ethereum ecosystem.
Conclusion
Base lead Jesse Pollak put it plainly: L2s can’t just be "cheaper Ethereum." As Ethereum’s mainnet scaling capabilities improve, this view is being fully validated.
Ethereum’s gas limit is expected to increase significantly in 2026, keeping transaction fees low. Meanwhile, most L2 projects remain in centralized stages, with slow progress toward decentralization.
The market is already reacting. Analysts predict that by the end of 2026, general-purpose L2 tokens lacking differentiated value may face a major shakeout. The entire Ethereum ecosystem stands at a turning point, awaiting the next chapter led by specialized L2s.
On the Gate platform, price swings in Ethereum and related L2 tokens reflect this ongoing transformation, as investors carefully assess each project’s unique value proposition and long-term viability.
