Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, expressed doubts today about increasing the complexity of Layer 2 (L2) to simplify Layer 1 (L1) strategies. He pointed out that errors in L2 could result in significant permanent loss of funds in terms of error risk management. Therefore, he believes it is worth adding some complex features to L1 to alleviate the code burden on L2.
In response to a common misunderstanding about the relationship between L1 and L2 raised by Brian Trollz, a technical editor at Bitcoin Magazine, Vitalik stated that he is becoming more skeptical of the strategy of “increasing L2 complexity to simplify L1.” Brian Trollz sarcastically criticized the view that “only needs to be implemented on L2,” pointing out that it overlooks the fundamental limitations of L1 on L2 functionality.
In response, Vitalik said that when weighing the risk of bugs between L1 and L2, it is not clear that L2 has the advantage. He explained that adding some complex features to L1 to alleviate the code burden on L2 is actually worthwhile.
On the 19th, Vitalik expressed his great anticipation for the application of artificial intelligence in code verification and error detection. He stated that “security” is the focus of Ethereum L2 standards, which he published in mid-October. This indicates that, in order to qualify as L2, a platform or technology needs to have stronger security attributes than just multisignature, which is a basic security mechanism. Even though these security attributes may not be as comprehensive as Rollup, they should have their unique security guarantees.
In addition, he mentioned Validiums again, believing that they meet this standard. As for Optimiums, Vitalik believes that they may also meet the standard but require more rigorous analysis to determine their exact security efficiency.
Related reports:
Interpreting Vitalik’s paper “Privacy Pools”: Achieving regulatory compliance and preventing a Tornado Cash regulatory tragedy.
Vitalik proposes three major solutions, including EIP-4444, to resolve Ethereum client data congestion.
Vitalik analyzes the “FTX collapse and OpenAI governance crisis”: Transparency and accountability to the public are crucial!