How L1 and L2s can build the strongest possible Ethereum

The Future of Ethereum: L1 and L2s Working Together

Over the last five years, the Ethereum ecosystem has grown exponentially, with a network of chains sprouting up around the core L1. This has led to a natural question: how should Ethereum L1 and these L2s relate to each other? In this article, we'll explore the evolving relationship between L1 and L2s, and how they can work together to create a stronger, more resilient onchain economy.

The Role of L1 and L2s

Ethereum L1 is the world's leading programmable blockchain, with a strong reputation, security track record, and regulatory acceptance. It's the heart of the DeFi ecosystem and features the deepest liquidity. However, any single chain will be unable to meet the diverse needs of a global onchain economy. Even in a future where Ethereum remains the world's leading blockchain and scales 1000x, there will be many different chains because they provide specialization and customization that any L1 cannot.

Specialization around specific applications or use cases

Non-EVM features

Additional privacy guarantees

Pricing mechanisms or tx inclusion logic

Ultra low latency or other sequencing properties

Extreme scaling properties L1s cannot match

Specialized economies, go-to-market, and growth approaches

Modular designs that enable compliance or other business needs

Other improvements or innovations that can be iterated and shipped faster than on L1

Governance strategies to give stakeholders granular control over their own flexible execution environment on Ethereum

This presents an opportunity for Ethereum L1 and Ethereum L2s to build mutually beneficial relationships, each focusing on complementary roles.

Why Should Other Chains Want to be L2s on Ethereum?

High security, low counterparty risk, and maximum decentralization at significantly reduced cost: L2s achieve maximum security & decentralization at much lower costs than alt-L1s. Building and incentivizing a global decentralized validator set is expensive, time consuming, and difficult. L2s can offload that responsibility to Ethereum L1, enabling them to “pay for usage” rather than pay the large fixed costs to build their own L1 validator network.

Users and developers: L2s gain access to more users and developers through secure interoperability with the largest L1 blockchain and the largest network of L2 chains (interoperability and crosschain UX will accelerate thanks to ZK technology, real-time proving, faster L1 finality & L2 settlement, and maturation of agentic infrastructure).

Interoperability: L2s, if designed well, can gain secure access to L1 assets and DeFi liquidity, user accounts on L1, and any services that live on L1, eg. oracles, ENS.

Go-to-market: The branding and reputational benefits from being part of the Ethereum ecosystem, which has the strongest reputation, security track record, and regulatory acceptance of any L1.

How Does Ethereum L1 Benefit from These Relationships?

From our experience and discussions with stakeholders around the ecosystem, we believe that positioning Ethereum L1 at the centre of a growing network of L2s reinforces Ethereum and ETH’s unique role in the onchain economy:

Creating demand for ETH, and providing trust-minimized, secure bridging between ETH and other assets

ETH functions simultaneously as a store of value, money, and an application throughout Ethereum.

Extending network effects around Ethereum (e.g. EVM, developer education, developer tooling, user onboarding, and interoperability between L2s)

Reinforcing Ethereum’s valuable position as the core of a multichain ecosystem, and the primary settlement and liquidity layer of the onchain economy

Providing additional business development, growth, and marketing efforts broadly for Ethereum

L2s help achieve a core vision of the Ethereum ecosystem. By acting as distribution engines (providing extra scaling) for Ethereum’s core properties (security, resilience, and hardness), they help to maximize the number of people who can get sustainable value from Ethereum

What Does This Mean for L2s Going Forward?

Here are our recommendations:

L2s should focus on strategies that are complementary to L1 and differentiate their platforms. Many L2s are already successfully executing towards this vision. Some have done this with innovative new features, by targeting specific use-cases (e.g. app chains), supplying new forms of distribution, or with novel go-to-market strategies. This has helped them create their own distinct communities and extended the properties of Ethereum to millions of new users.

L2s should feel empowered to differentiate in any way they can imagine. We have already seen differentiation in scalability, trustlessness, privacy, corporate compliance, industry sector, community, and a range of technical innovations. Other use cases that can function well as L2s include public bulletin boards for cryptographic e-voting, and certificate transparency.

It is a valid choice for L2s to extend all or a subset of Ethereum’s properties, depending on their goals. But they should make sure the security properties they do and do not provide are easily understood by their users.

L2s working towards trust-minimization should at least reach Stage 1 and pass the “walkaway” test, meaning users can safely exit to L1 even in the presence of malicious operators or security council failure.

L2s that choose to be closest to L1 and fully inherit its properties should push towards:

Achieving Stage 2

Synchronous composability (whether read-only eg. L1SLOAD / L1STATICCALL, or read-write), both at the protocol layer and at the application layer (eg. even if activity is on L2, do user accounts need to be on L2? Even if trades are on L1, do assets need to be issued on L2?)

Becoming a native rollup (allowing L2s to get rid of their security councils)

L2s should continue to work on mechanisms for interoperability and shared liquidity more broadly, strengthening the system as a whole. We encourage teams to look into the Open Intents Framework and the Fast Confirmation Rule, explore designs that provide access to L1 capital without leaving the L2, and otherwise contribute to ongoing synchronous composability workstreams.

L2s should continue to operate transparently, being clear with the ecosystem about their individual security properties and relationship to L1 (supported by L2Beat, playing an important role in making the L2 ecosystem transparent and ensuring it improves over time).

What the EF is Doing to Help Build That World

To achieve this vision of the L1<L2 relationship, we know the EF has a role to play. Here’s what we are doing:

Working to both scale the L1 and scale blobs without sacrificing decentralization or hardness. Today blobs are only ~30% full. There is a lot of headroom to grow, and we feel comfortable growing blobs much more if needed.

Supporting L2s in particular who have or wish to deepen strong properties in core EF domains like privacy, security, and trustlessness.

The Platform team, led by Josh Rudolf, to improve the Ethereum platform as a whole and serve as an interface between L2s and the core protocol roadmap.

Improving liquidity on L1, and make it easier for L2s to access that liquidity (faster finality, withdrawals, and deposits).

Working closely with L2 teams to understand their needs and reflect them in Protocol priorities, and bringing clarity to the relationship between L1 and L2. For this relationship to work, we need to understand what is working and what is not, and work together. The goal is to always clarify and strengthen the value proposition of being part of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Investing R&D towards the technology that will enable “native rollups” -- L2 chains that can be fully and trustlessly verified by L1, enabling synchronous composability and secure interoperability.

Working closely with L2Beat and others who help to monitor and validate the security properties of L2s. We must be rigorous and honest about the properties of L2s and the degree to which they share in L1’s security, so that users and builders can make informed choices.

Addressing the primary downside of a multichain ecosystem: fragmentation. We will work with the ecosystem (chains, wallets, infra providers) to build better interop solutions that fix UX and developer platform fragmentation. And now with a clearer vision for the L1<L2 relationship, we can begin to address the fragmentation of Ethereum’s narrative.

Together, we will deliver a global, permissionless onchain economy and the best platform for all users.

Source: https://blog.ethereum.org/en/2026/03/23/l1-l2-ethereum