Ethereum Foundation Post: Rethinking the Division of Work Between L1 and L2 to Build the Ultimate Ethereum Ecosystem
Original Title: How L1 and L2s can build the strongest possible Ethereum
Original Authors: Josh Rudolf, Julian Ma, Josh Stark, Ethereum Foundation
Original Translation: Chopper, Foresight News
The ultimate goal of the Ethereum Foundation's Platform team is to drive Ethereum as a unified, scalable system for all users to confidently use.
This article aims to share our views on the relationship between L1 and L2, elucidate the role of each layer, and how we (as an ecosystem) can leverage the advantages of L1 and L2 to create the most compelling platform for all users.
Some of these aspects are already clear, while others will need to be validated through ongoing experimentation and iteration with the community and users.
TL;DR
Goal: All individual and institutional users should have a clear path to leverage, scale, and benefit from Ethereum's core properties.
The best way to achieve this goal is to fully utilize the unique features of each layer, strengthen Ethereum's core properties, and unlock meaningful value for end users through these properties.
As the Ethereum ecosystem evolves, the role of each layer evolves as follows:
· Past: L2's primary mission was to assist Ethereum in scaling, followed by providing differentiation and customization space. Scalability was key.
· Present: L2's primary mission is to deliver scalability while providing differentiated features, services, customized solutions, market positioning strategies, and jurisdictional control. Currently, the biggest drivers are differentiation, control, and innovation.
· L1 serves as a truly permissionless and highly resilient global settlement, shared state, liquidity, and DeFi hub. A robust, scalable L1 layer that does not compromise CROPS (Censorship Resistance, Openness, Privacy, Security) provides a better foundation for the L2 layer.
· L2 provides valuable new functionality, customization, and control to develop its own on-chain economy while extending Ethereum's core properties to more users. A robust L2 network strengthens the Ethereum ecosystem and its center of gravity.
· L2 covers all aspects, establishing differentiated relationships with L1 based on its own needs:
· Those seeking the closest integration with L1 should strive to achieve synchronous composability, full interoperability, shared liquidity, and native Rollup mechanisms.
· L2 with various business models or technical expertise will continue to play a significant role in the ecosystem, offering exclusive capabilities that L1 cannot cover.
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) will continue to research underlying technologies to help L2 seamlessly extend L1's native features, securely enable cross-layer and cross-chain liquidity and asset interoperability; meanwhile, L2 is required to be openly transparent, clearly disclosing its security attributes and verification standards.
In short, both parties play important roles, and actions must align with words.
Introduction
Over the past five years, the Ethereum L1 ecosystem has nurtured a vast L2 ecosystem. Various L2 solutions inherit different native Ethereum features: some fully replicate the decentralized architecture (such as Stage 2 Rollup), some inherit certain security features (such as Validium, Prividium), and some are only compatible with the general EVM standard (not L2).
Many chains are still in development, often starting from independent chains and gradually deepening integration into the Ethereum L1 ecosystem. It is now time for the Ethereum Foundation (EF) and the broader Ethereum ecosystem to update our understanding of the relationship between L1 and L2 networks. The last update could be said to be five years ago when the Rollup-centric roadmap was first proposed as a way to scale Ethereum.
Since then, there have been significant changes. The technology enabling L2 to share Ethereum's security and liquidity and interoperate with it has matured; L2's differentiated competitiveness and user value have become more prominent; L2 itself has grown and fostered an independent community ecosystem; and the scalability roadmap at the L1 layer has evolved to become clearer.
The Ethereum ecosystem needs to face these changes and learn from past successes and failures.
Over the past few months, the future development direction of the Ethereum L1 and L2 relationship has gradually become clear:
· A thriving Ethereum ecosystem must be built on a strong L1 foundation.
· Ethereum L1 will achieve an order of magnitude scalability while maintaining the highest level of security and decentralization, continuing to serve as the core of on-chain economy and DeFi.
· The future will see an ecosystem composed of independent and interoperable L2 chains, offering a higher degree of customization, control, and functionality that L1 cannot provide. These L2 chains choose to root in the Ethereum ecosystem because it is the best choice for their users, community, or enterprises.
· L2 chains will both compete and cooperate to provide a variety of specialized block space, services, and assets.
This article aims to further explain the L1 and L2 symbiosis vision and outline a path for establishing a mutually reinforcing relationship between Ethereum L1 and any chain that wishes to root and become part of the ecosystem.
What Roles Do L1 and L2 Play and How Do They Collaborate?
Ethereum L1 is the world's leading programmable blockchain, unparalleled in user adoption, developer ecosystem, decentralization, anti-fragility, and underlying security. Ethereum L1 is the core of the DeFi ecosystem, aggregating the deepest liquidity across the network. Ethereum L1 now has a clear scaling path while maintaining decentralization and security. Due to the collective efforts of many teams in the Ethereum ecosystem, the development of Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZK) technology has far exceeded expectations.
In the coming years, we will be able to significantly increase the capacity of Ethereum L1 while adhering to its core value vision.
However, no single public chain can accommodate the diverse global on-chain economic demands. Even if Ethereum remains dominant in the future and scales by 1000x, there will still be many different chains because they offer specialized and customized services that L1 cannot provide:
· Specialization for specific applications or use cases
· Non-EVM functionality
· Additional privacy protections
· Pricing Mechanism or Transaction Inclusion Logic
· Ultra-Low Latency or other Ordering Characteristics
· Extreme Scaling Properties of L1 Unmatched
· Specialized Economies, Market Entry Strategies, and Growth Trajectories
· Modular Design to Meet Compliance or other Business Requirements
· Other Improvements or Innovations that can iterate and deliver faster than L1
……
This provides an opportunity for L1 and L2 to establish a mutually beneficial relationship, allowing each to focus on complementary roles.
Why Would Other Independent Blockchains Want to Become Ethereum's L2?
· Cost: Compared to standalone Layer 1 blockchains, L2 replicates Ethereum's top-tier security and decentralization at a very low cost threshold; setting up a globally decentralized validator node incurs high costs, long cycles, and great difficulty. L2 can transfer this responsibility to Ethereum L1, paying as needed without bearing high fixed setup costs.
· Users and Developers: Achieving interoperability with the largest L1 and L2 network globally can attract more users and developers; due to zero-knowledge proof technology, real-time proofs, faster L1 finality and L2 settlements, and mature proxy infrastructure, interoperability and cross-chain user experience will accelerate.
· Interoperability: If designed properly, L2 can securely access L1 assets and DeFi liquidity, user accounts on L1, and any services on L1 such as oracles and ENS.
· Market Exposure: As part of the Ethereum ecosystem, one can benefit from brand and reputation advantages; the Ethereum ecosystem has the best reputation, security record, and regulatory acceptance among all L1s.
What can Ethereum L1 gain from this? Based on our experience and discussions with various ecosystem stakeholders, we believe positioning Ethereum L1 at the core of a growing L2 network can strengthen Ethereum and ETH's unique position in the on-chain economy:
· Creating demand for ETH and providing trust-minimized, secure bridging services between ETH and other assets. ETH serves as a store of value, currency, and more within the Ethereum network.
· Expand Ethereum's network effects (e.g., EVM, developer education, developer tools, user onboarding, and L2 interop)
· Solidify Ethereum as the core of a multi-chain ecosystem and a key settlement and liquidity layer for on-chain economies
· Provide broader business development, growth, and marketing support for Ethereum
· L2 contributes to achieving the core vision of the Ethereum ecosystem. As distributed engines of Ethereum's core attributes (security, scalability, and decentralization), they maximize the number of users deriving sustainable value from Ethereum.
The Ethereum ecosystem should not take these advantages for granted. Some of these advantages remain contentious within the community or require long-term theoretical validation through experimentation, measurement, and analysis. Ultimately, the relationship between L1 and L2 must be symbiotic to succeed. Over the past five years, this relationship has achieved numerous milestones and laid critical groundwork for the future.
What Does This Mean for the Future of L2?
What does this new vision mean for L2 users, their teams, and their communities?
Here are our recommendations:
· L2 should focus on complementing L1 and achieving strategic platform differentiation. Many L2s have made strides toward this vision successfully. They achieve this by innovative features, catering to specific use cases (e.g., application-specific chains), offering new distribution mechanisms, or adopting novel go-to-market strategies. This helps them build their unique communities and extend Ethereum's capabilities to millions of new users.
· L2 should have the freedom to differentiate themselves in various ways based on their vision. We have seen differentiation in scalability, trustlessness, privacy, enterprise compliance, industry focus, community, and a variety of technical innovations.
· L2 can choose to scale all or some attributes of Ethereum based on their goals. Still, they should ensure users can easily understand the security properties they do or do not provide. L2s committed to minimal trust should at least reach Stage 1 and pass an "exit" test, meaning users can safely exit to L1 even in the presence of malicious actors or a failure of the security committee. L2s choosing to be closest to L1 and fully inherit its attributes should progress in these directions:
1) Achieve Stage 2;
2) Synced composability;
3) Become a native Rollup.
· L2 should continue to focus on building wider interoperability and shared liquidity mechanisms to strengthen the entire Ethereum ecosystem.
· L2 should continue to operate in a transparent manner, clearly articulating to the ecosystem its respective security attributes and relationship with the L1 security layer.
What is the Ethereum Foundation doing to build such a world
To achieve the vision of L1<>L2 relationships, the Ethereum Foundation is fully committed to the following:
· We are committed to scaling both the L1 layer and blob without sacrificing decentralization. Currently, the filling rate of blob is only around 30%, indicating significant room for expansion should the need arise, we can confidently expand the blob further.
· Particularly supporting those in the field of privacy, security, and trustlessness that have or wish to deepen their L2 integration.
· Led by Josh Rudolf, the Platform team is focused on improving the overall performance of the Ethereum platform and serving as an interface between L2 and the core protocol roadmap.
· Enhance L1 liquidity to make it easier for L2 to access liquidity (faster finality, withdrawals, and deposits).
· Work closely with L2 teams, understand their needs and prioritize them in the protocol, while clearly defining the relationship between L1 and L2. To ensure this relationship works effectively, we need to understand what works, what needs improvement, and collaborate. Our goal is always to articulate and reinforce the value proposition of being part of the Ethereum ecosystem.
· Invest in research and development to achieve "native Rollup" technology, where L1 can fully and trustlessly validate an L2 chain, enabling synced composability and secure interoperability.
· We collaborate closely with L2Beat and other institutions to collectively monitor and verify the security properties of L2. We must rigorously and honestly assess the characteristics of L2 and their relevance to L1 security so that users and developers can make informed decisions.
· Address a key drawback of the multi-chain ecosystem: fragmentation. We will work with the ecosystem (including chains, wallets, and infrastructure providers) to build more robust interoperability solutions to address the issues of user experience and developer platform fragmentation. With a clearer understanding of the relationship between L1 and L2, we can now tackle the narrative fragmentation of Ethereum.
We will together build a global, permissionless on-chain economic system and provide the best platform for all users.
You may also like

Iran War Stalemate: What Signal Should the Market Follow?

Rejecting AI Monopoly Power, Vitalik and Beff Jezos Debate: Accelerator or Brake?

Insider Trading Alert! Will Trump Call a Truce by End of April?

After establishing itself as the top tokenized stock, does Ondo have any new highlights?

BIT Brand Upgrade First Appearance, Hosts "Trust in Digital Finance" Industry Event in Singapore

OpenClaw Founder Interview: Why the US Should Learn from China on AI Implementation
WEEX AI Wars II: Enlist as an AI Agent Arsenal and Lead the Battle
Where the thunder of legions falls into a hallowed hush, the true kings of arena are crowned in gold and etched into eternity. Season 1 of WEEX AI Wars has ended, leaving a battlefield of glory. Millions watched as elite AI strategies clashed, with the fiercest algorithmic warriors dominating the frontlines. The echoes of victory still reverberate. Now, the call to arms sounds once more!
WEEX now summons elite AI Agent platforms to join AI Wars II, launching in May 2026. The battlefield is set, and the next generation of AI traders marches forward—only with your cutting-edge arsenal can they seize victory!
Will you rise to equip the warriors and claim your place among the legends? Can your AI Agent technology dominate the battlefield? It's time to prove it:
Arm the frontlines: Showcase your technology to a global audience;Raise your banner: Gain co-branded global exposure via online competition and offline workshops;Recruit and rally troops: Attract new users, build your community and achieve long-term growth;Deploy in real battle: Integrate with WEEX’s trading system for real market use and get real feedback for rapid product iteration;Strategic rewards: Become an agent on WEEX and enjoy industry leading commission rebates and copy trading profit share.Join WEEX AI Wars II now to sound the charge!
Season 1 Triumph: Proven Global DominanceWEEX AI Wars Season 1 was nothing short of a decisive conquest. Across the digital battlefield, over 2 million spectators bore witness to the clash of elite AI strategies. Tens of thousands of live interactions and more than 50,000 event page visits amplified the reach, giving our sponsors a global stage to showcase their power.
Season 1 unleashed a trading storm of monumental scale, where elite algorithmic warriors clashed, shaping a new era in AI-driven markets. $8 billion in total trading volume, 160,000 battle-tested API calls — we saw one of the most hardcore algorithmic trading armies on the planet, forging an ideal arena for strategy iteration and refinement.
On the ground, workshop campaigns in Dubai, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, and Turkey brought AI trading directly to the frontlines. Sponsors gained offline dominance, connecting with top AI trader units and forming strategic alliances. Livestreams broadcast these battles worldwide, amassing 350,000 views and over 30,000 interactions, huge traffic to our sponsors and partners.
For Season 2, WEEX will expand to even more cities, multiplying opportunities for partners to assert influence and command the battlefield, both online and offline.
Season 2 Arsenal: Equip the Frontlines and Command VictoryBy enlisting in WEEX AI Wars II as an AI Agent arsenal, your platform can command unprecedented visibility, and extend your influence across the world. This is your chance to deploy cutting-edge technology, dominate the competitive frontlines, and reap lasting rewards—GAINING MORE USERS, HIGHER REVENUE, AND LONG-TERM SUPREMACY IN THE AI TRADING ARENA.
Reach WEEX’s 8 million userbase and global crypto community. Unleash your potential on a global stage! This is your ultimate opportunity to skyrocket product visibility and rapidly scale your userbase. Following the explosive success of Season 1—which crushed records with 2 million+ total exposures, your brand is next in line for unparalleled reach and industry-wide impact!Test and showcase your AI Agent in real markets. Throw your AI Agents into the ultimate arena! Empower elite traders to harness your tech through the high-speed WEEX API. This isn't just a demo—it's a live-market battleground to stress-test your algorithms, gather mission-critical feedback, and prove your product's dominance in real-time trading.Gain extensive co-branded exposure and traffic support. Command the spotlight! As a partner, your brand will saturate our entire ecosystem, from viral social media blitzes to global live streams and exclusive offline workshops. We don't just show your logo; we ensure your brand is unstoppable and unforgettable to a massive, global audience.Enjoy industry leading rebates. Becoming our partner is not a one-time collaboration, but the start of a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with tangible revenue opportunities.Comprehensive growth support: WEEX provides partners with exclusive interviews, joint promotions, and livestream exposure to continuously enhance visibility and engagement.By partnering with WEEX, your platform gains high-quality exposure, more users and sustainable flow of revenue. The Hackathon is more than a competition. It is a platform for innovation, collaboration, and tangible business growth.
Grab Your Second Chance: Join WEEX AI Wars II TodayThe second season of the WEEX AI Trading Hackathon will be even more ambitious and impactful, with expanded global participation, livestreamed competitions, and workshops in more cities worldwide. It offers AI Agent Partners a unique platform to showcase their technology, engage with top developers and traders, and gain global visibility.
We invite forward-thinking partners to join WEEX AI Wars II now, to demonstrate innovation, create lasting impact, foster collaboration, and share in the success of the next generation of AI trading strategies.
About WEEXFounded in 2018, WEEX has developed into a global crypto exchange with over 6.2 million users across more than 150 countries. The platform emphasizes security, liquidity, and usability, providing over 1,200 spot trading pairs and offering up to 400x leverage in crypto futures trading. In addition to the traditional spot and derivatives markets, WEEX is expanding rapidly in the AI era — delivering real-time AI news, empowering users with AI trading tools, and exploring innovative trade-to-earn models that make intelligent trading more accessible to everyone. Its 1,000 BTC Protection Fund further strengthens asset safety and transparency, while features such as copy trading and advanced trading tools allow users to follow professional traders and experience a more efficient, intelligent trading journey.
Follow WEEX on social mediaX: @WEEX_Official
Instagram: @WEEX Exchange
Tiktok: @weex_global
Youtube: @WEEX_Official
Discord: WEEX Community
Telegram: WeexGlobal Group

Nasdaq Enters Correction Territory | Rewire News Morning Brief

OpenAI loses to Thousnad-Question, unable to grow a checkout counter in the chatbox

One-Year Valuation Surged 140%, Who Is Signing the Check for Defense AI?

Bittensor vs. Virtuals: Two Distinct AI Flywheel Mechanisms

Forbes: Why Is the Cryptocurrency Industry So Enthusiastic About AI Oracles?

Ethereum Foundation publishes: Restructuring the division of labor between L1 and L2, jointly building the ultimate Ethereum ecosystem

Morning Report | Startale completes $63 million Series A financing; STS Digital launches structured cryptocurrency platform; Polymarket will charge a taker fee on almost all trading categories

The most important thing in Web3 primary market investment

The strategic focus of cryptocurrency in reconstructing the international monetary system and the Chinese solution

Musk Poached Aave App's Web3 Prodigy

