Vitalik: L2 that has not reached at least "Phase 1" is dead

Author: Martin Young, CoinTelegraph; Compiler: Wuzhu, Golden Finance

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin reiterated his stance on Layer 2 decentralization, saying he only plans to acknowledge scaling solutions for the "first phase" of its decentralized scale.

In a September 12 X post, Buterin said he takes it "very seriously" and that starting next year, he only plans to publicly mention Layer 2 networks "above Phase 1."

He added that "there may be a short grace period for really interesting new projects."

"It doesn't matter whether I invest or not, or if you're my friend; it's either Phase 1 or bust."

Buterin said that many zero-knowledge Rollup teams told him that "they are on track to enter Phase 1 by the end of the year," and he was "happy to see that happen."

“The era of Rollup being glorified as multi-signature is coming to an end. The era of cryptographic trust has arrived,” he wrote.

Source: Vitalik Buterin

In 2022, Buterin introduced the concept of “training wheels” for Ethereum scaling Rollup projects at different stages of development.

He outlined a three-phase path to Layer-2 decentralization.

The first “Phase 0” or “full training wheels” is a project that self-identifies as a Rollup, where all Rollup transactions are on-chain and users can make trades and withdrawals without operator intervention.

However, there is only a simple multi-signature wallet in control, and no fraud or validity proofs are required.

Phase 1 (the lowest level Buterin will now concede) is the next step in decentralization, where Layer-2 has active fraud protection or validity proof schemes.

They should also have a multi-signature-based override mechanism or “safety committee,” but with strict conditions, such as requiring at least 6 out of 8 signatures and a quorum block group that must be outside the Rollup organization. There should also be a seven-day delay window for upgrades.

The final stage on the road to Layer 2 decentralization is “Phase 2,” or “No Training Wheels.”

During this phase, no group can overwrite code outputs if the project’s code is bug-free. Additionally, limited use of safety committees is allowed and only for obvious bug cases, as well as a 30-day upgrade activation delay.

In June, several Layer 2 Rollup teams, including Linea, ZKsync, Arbitrum, and Optimism, claimed that “Phase 2” full decentralization would be achieved within a few years.