scaling

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently stated that the initial idea of using L2 as the main scaling engine for Ethereum is no longer reasonable, and he called for second-layer networks to evolve towards stronger specialization. This statement quickly prompted responses from mainstream L2 teams such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base.Vitalik pointed out that many L2s still rely on multi-signature bridges and have not fully inherited Ethereum's security; at the same time, with the increase in gas limits and the advancement of native Rollup solutions, the throughput capacity of the Ethereum mainnet itself is strengthening. Against this backdrop, the positioning of L2 needs to be rethought.Karl Floersch, co-founder of the Optimism Foundation, stated that he supports building a modular L2 that covers the entire decentralized spectrum, but also admitted that there are still real challenges such as long withdrawal periods, immature Stage 2 proof mechanisms, and insufficient cross-chain tools.Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, the developer of Arbitrum, emphasized that scaling remains the core value of L2. He believes that even if the Ethereum mainnet's capabilities improve, it will be difficult to replace L2's role in handling thousands of TPS during peak times, and warned that if Ethereum is unfriendly to Rollups, institutions may choose independent Layer 1s instead.Jesse Pollak, head of Base, stated that scaling Ethereum L1 is beneficial for the entire ecosystem, while agreeing that L2 cannot just be a cheaper version of Ethereum. He pointed out that Base is forming its own characteristics through application layer differentiation, account abstraction, and privacy features.Additionally, StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson hinted on social media that ZK-native L2s (such as Starknet) have, to some extent, aligned with the specialization direction proposed by Vitalik. Overall, L2 builders generally accept the trend of de-homogenization and repositioning, but there are still divergences on whether scaling remains a core mission.

According to Cointelegraph, after Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin commented that "the original vision of Layer 2 as the primary scaling engine is no longer applicable," several L2 builders responded, generally agreeing that Rollup needs to move beyond the positioning of "a cheaper Ethereum," but there are disagreements on whether scaling should still be its core role.Optimism co-founder Karl Floersch welcomed the challenge of building a modular L2 stack that supports "full-spectrum decentralization," while acknowledging that there are still major obstacles such as long withdrawal periods, second-stage proofs not being production-ready, and insufficient cross-chain application tools. He supports the native Rollup precompiled solutions emphasized by Buterin.Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs, took a firmer stance, arguing that although the Rollup model has evolved, scaling remains the core value of L2. He pointed out that Arbitrum was not built as "a service of Ethereum," but because Ethereum provides a highly secure and low-cost settlement layer, making large-scale Rollups possible. He warned that if Ethereum is seen as hostile to Rollups, institutions might choose to launch independent Layer 1 chains instead of deploying on Ethereum.Base head Jesse Pollak stated that scaling Ethereum L1 is "a victory for the entire ecosystem," agreeing that L2 cannot just be "a cheaper Ethereum." He mentioned that Base is differentiating itself through applications, account abstraction, and privacy features, and is working towards decentralization in the second stage.StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson hinted that some ZK-native L2s (like Starknet) believe they already fit the specialized role described by Buterin. The entire Ethereum ecosystem is facing a roadmap adjustment: the base layer aims to enhance its capabilities, while L2 is repositioning itself as a dedicated environment serving different technical needs.

Researchers and developers expect that 2026 will be a key year for Ethereum to achieve exponential scalability through zero-knowledge proofs (ZK). By then, some Ethereum validators will no longer re-execute transactions but will directly verify ZK proofs, fundamentally changing the way the blockchain operates, with scalability comparable to Ethereum's transition from PoW to PoS in "The Merge" in 2022.Ethereum researcher Justin Drake stated that the first validators will begin to verify ZK proofs for each block instead of re-executing all transactions, which will bring immediate scalability benefits to Layer 1 and lay the groundwork for 10,000 TPS in the future. Currently, the Ethereum mainnet has a throughput of about 30 TPS. During Devconnect, Drake demonstrated that ZK proof verification could be completed using an old laptop, and it is expected that by the end of 2026, about 10% of validators will switch to ZK verification mode (Lean Execution Phase 1). This transition will significantly reduce the hardware requirements for validating nodes while maintaining network decentralization.Ethereum Besu client engineer Gary Schulte pointed out that future compute-intensive tasks will mainly be handled by block builders and ZK provers, while regular validators will only need to perform lightweight checks, creating conditions for increasing gas limits and overall throughput. On the roadmap, Ethereum is currently still in Phase 0 (voluntary validation), expected to enter Phase 1 (partial validator switch) in 2026, and move into Phase 2 in 2027, which will require block producers to generate ZK proofs, achieving fully ZK execution.

According to Cointelegraph, Ethereum will undergo several major upgrades in 2026, including the Glamsterdam and Heze-Bogota hard forks, aiming to achieve L1 scaling and further application of Web3 technologies.The Glamsterdam hard fork is expected to be launched in mid-2026, focusing on "block access lists" and "built-in proposer-builder separation" (ePBS). The former will enable perfect parallel processing, allowing Ethereum to shift from a single-channel model to a multi-channel model, significantly increasing transaction processing speed; the latter will help improve block generation efficiency and provide more time for the verification of zero-knowledge proofs. Additionally, the Gas limit for Ethereum in 2026 is expected to rise significantly from the current 60 million to 100 million or even 200 million, while the number of data blocks may increase to over 72 per block, further supporting L2 protocols to process hundreds of thousands of transactions per second. It is anticipated that 10% of Ethereum network validators will shift to validating zero-knowledge proofs, paving the way for L1 scaling to 10,000 transactions per second (TPS). The Heze-Bogota hard fork at the end of the year will also focus on enhancing privacy protection and censorship resistance, further optimizing the Ethereum ecosystem. Previously, Ethereum developers named the subsequent upgrade of Glamsterdam "Hegota."

According to Decrypt, Robinhood has announced the launch of a series of cryptocurrency features and services aimed at becoming a global digital financial platform.The company will introduce staking services for ETH and SOL, initially launching in New York and planning to expand nationwide after obtaining regulatory approval. The new services also include a tiered fee structure for high-net-worth U.S. traders, enhanced cryptocurrency trading APIs, and cost basis tracking features to simplify tax reporting. In the European market, Robinhood has added perpetual futures contracts for tokens such as XRP, Dogecoin, and SUI, offering up to 7x leverage, following the earlier launch of perpetual futures for BTC and ETH.Additionally, European users will be able to trade over 1,000 tokenized U.S. stocks and money market funds. The company also announced its Layer-2 scaling network project, officially named Robinhood Chain.

According to The Block, the Aave governance forum is discussing a strategy adjustment proposal put forward by ACI, which aims to close low-revenue deployments on chains such as zkSync, Metis, and Soneium, and set a $2 million annual revenue threshold for future deployments.ACI states that these instances cannot cover operational costs and increase the engineering burden. Currently, the "temperature check" snapshot vote has received 100% support, and if passed, it will enter the formal governance process. Last night, it was reported that a new proposal from the Aave community aims to adjust the V3 multi-chain deployment strategy, including increasing the reserve ratio for underperforming networks.

According to the latest crypto weekly report released by Gate Ventures, directly applying traditional short-term valuation models (such as short-term price-to-earnings and revenue models) to blockchain networks can lead to systemic pricing errors.Due to the exponential characteristics of curves adopted by the crypto industry, the long-term growth potential of assets like ETH and SOL is still significantly underestimated; market sentiment and linear thinking obscure their true growth potential. Currently, overall market sentiment remains weak, with BTC rising 4.07% and ETH rising 6.82% last week, while the fear and greed index remains in the "extreme fear" range.In terms of ecosystem dynamics, Ethereum has raised the block Gas Limit to 60 million in preparation for the Fusaka upgrade, marking the largest execution layer expansion for Ethereum in nearly four years.Paxos has acquired Fordefi for over $100 million to strengthen its institutional custody services. Meanwhile, DWF Labs has launched a $75 million fund focused on building institutional-grade DeFi infrastructure.In terms of financing, the total amount disclosed last week was $164 million, which represents an 88% decrease compared to the previous period due to tightening market conditions. Infrastructure projects accounted for 62% of all financing, while DeFi recorded the highest financing scale.

ChainCatcher news, according to OnchainLens monitoring, the address of Huang Licheng received $200,000 from QCP Capital and deposited $100,000 into HyperLiquid to increase his 25x ETH long position. Currently, the value of this position is approximately $10 million. The overall opening price is $3955, and the liquidation price is $3843.

ChainCatcher news, according to official information, the Polkadot (波卡) referendum 1721 has passed, marking the project's official entry into Phase 2.This upgrade cancels the parachain slot auctions, initiates elastic scaling, lowers the entry barrier for developers, and plans to be compatible with the EVM environment, enhance liquidity, and reduce high staking rewards. The annual inflation rate of DOT is expected to drop to 3.1% by 2026. The Polkadot Hub and related liquidity plans are expected to launch in 2026.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg Terminal, the initial public offering (IPO) of the cryptocurrency trading platform Bullish has been oversubscribed after scaling up.ChainCatcher news, according to a previous report by Reuters, the cryptocurrency trading platform Bullish, backed by Peter Thiel, has expanded its initial public offering (IPO) size, now targeting a valuation of up to $4.82 billion. This is a significant increase from last week's target of $4.2 billion, reflecting a sudden surge in market enthusiasm for digital assets.

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, the newly appointed co-executive directors Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz StańCzak have released a joint statement outlining their development priorities for the upcoming year for the first time. The statement indicates that the Ethereum Foundation will focus on three main areas: mainnet scalability, expanding Blobs, and improving user experience (including layer two network interoperability and application layer).The foundation will continue to uphold four core values: anti-censorship, open-source innovation, privacy protection, and security. The two executive directors stated that they will strengthen internal operations of the foundation, enhance developer and user experience, improve ecosystem coordination, and commit to maintaining Ethereum as a decentralized public good. In addition, the foundation will also strengthen collaboration with layer two networks to achieve synergistic development of the entire ecosystem through optimized architectural design and interoperability.

ChainCatcher news, Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter posted on the X platform that the current progress of the Ethereum execution layer scaling roadmap is going smoothly, including continuous increases in the Gas limit (EIP-7935), expiration of historical data (EIP-4444), delayed execution (EIP-7886), block access lists (EIP-7928), and block-level preheating (EIP-7863).Recently, the Gas limit has been increased from 30M to 36M, with the future goal of reaching 100M before the Glamsterdam upgrade. The Nethermind team has also launched a new testnet, PerfNet, to test shorter time slots and higher Gas limits. The EIP-9698 proposal suggests achieving exponential growth in the Gas limit within 4 years through default client voting.

ChainCatcher message, Ethereum Foundation's newly appointed co-executive director Tomasz K. Stańczak stated that the foundation will shift its R&D focus towards L1 scaling, L2 support, and user experience optimization, covering protocol upgrades such as Pectra, Fusaka, and Glamsterdam. Vitalik Buterin will reduce his daily coordination work to focus on research initiatives, including RISC‑V, zkVM, and privacy directions. He emphasized that Vitalik's and other researchers' proposals are exploratory content that requires community discussion and scrutiny, with the goal of accelerating Ethereum's future breakthroughs.

ChainCatcher news, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams recently posted on the X social platform, expressing concerns about the confusion surrounding Ethereum's current scaling strategy. Adams emphasized that Ethereum has invested over 5 years in developing a horizontal scaling approach based on L2 and should not waver during the "final sprint phase."He criticized the conflicting voices within the community, which on one hand claim to follow the "rollup-centric roadmap," while on the other insist that "important functions must remain on L1." Adams stated, "I support improvements in L1 scaling; the rollup-centric roadmap actually requires these improvements," but he opposes frequent changes in strategic direction.Adams called for the community to "choose a path and work to reduce the associated risks," rather than "changing the narrative and strategy every month." He also clearly expressed his opposition to the approach of "trying all methods," believing that it is worse than not choosing any method at all.

ChainCatcher news, the oracle development team RedStone has become the latest project deployed on the Ethereum Layer 2 network MegaETH, which adopts an innovative architecture that breaks the limitations of traditional Rollup solutions. This collaboration coincides with the launch of the MegaETH public testnet------the final preparation phase before the mainnet launch of this network. RedStone co-founder Marcin Kazmierczak stated that the Bolt system will provide "plug-and-play" functionality, compatible with traditional push data architectures of mainstream DeFi protocols such as Compound and Aave.