Ethereum L2 Scaling New Direction: Vitalik Advocates "Simplification", How Does L1 Ensure Decentralization and Security?

The revival of Ethereum is not just about standing back at 3000 USD. Co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on X yesterday (15th), linking together perspectives raised over the past year and emphasizing that Layer 1 (L1) acts as the ultimate security layer, while Layer 2 (L2) must be compressed to just the sequencer + prover, through rigorous trust-minimized testing. Vitalik's concerns are already quite clear: if Ethereum's scaling goes off track, decentralization will be diluted. This perspective points the way for the future development of Ethereum L2 and emphasizes the importance of trust minimization and decentralization as core principles.

Ethereum's Bottom Line: L1 is Always the Main Axis

Vitalik emphasized that the consensus, anti-censorship, and data availability provided by the Ethereum mainnet should be the reliance of all L2s. If an L2 encounters issues, users can still recover their assets through the mainnet, which is the "trust minimization + efficiency" that enterprise chains pursued but failed to achieve in the 2010s.

He pointed out that the best way to establish L2 is to rely more deeply on the capabilities provided by L1 itself—such as security, censorship resistance, proof mechanisms, data availability, and so on—and then simplify your logic on L2 to just the roles of a sequencer and a prover (if based on rollup, then only the prover is needed).

Vitalik believes that this is actually what those enterprise-level blockchain teams in the 2010s dreamed of: trust minimization plus efficiency, but they never truly achieved it. Now, with Ethereum's L2 technology, you can really do it. Moreover, we have already seen several real cases where the features of L1 can protect users' rights when problems occur in L2.

L2 Keep it minimal: Just sorters and provers

In the latest post, Vitalik described the ideal L2 as "if the sequencer runs on the mainnet, L2 only has the validator function left." This way, the scaling layer does not have to bear the complex governance issues, and the core value of the blockchain remains in the hands of the mainnet.

This "minimalist" L2 design aims to ensure scalability while not sacrificing the core decentralization and security of Ethereum. It emphasizes that L2 should focus on its core functions—processing transactions and generating proofs—while leaving the final security guarantee to the L1 mainnet.

Technical Roadmap: Multi-Proof and RISC-V VM

In order to strengthen the relationship between L1 and L2, Vitalik previously proposed the use of "multi-proof" in zkEVM: independent projects issue proofs for the same block, and the mainnet only recognizes matching results. Additionally, he promoted EIP-7983 to limit the Gas for a single transaction, making mainnet behavior more predictable after implementation. Other aspects include transitioning to a RISC-V universal VM and incorporating ZK proofs and default privacy into the underlying capabilities.

As a key figure in the current development direction of Ethereum, Vitalik has made it clear: scalability can be infinite, but it must be at the cost of the mainnet being immutable and trustless.

Insights for Builders: Upholding the Core of Decentralization

For builders, the decentralized sorting, transparent upgrade process, and rigorous security testing will be essential courses to take next. If not implemented, the decentralization that Vitalik often mentions will only remain a slogan, and Ethereum may become a "trivial" ancestor. This also means that while L2 projects pursue scalability and efficiency, they must always be vigilant against centralization risks and ensure that their designs align with the core values of Ethereum.

Vitalik Buterin's latest views on Ethereum L2 development provide clear guidance for the entire ecosystem. He emphasizes the importance of L1 as the ultimate security layer and calls for L2 to maintain "two minimal roles" — sequencers and provers. This strategy aims to ensure that Ethereum adheres to the core principles of trust minimization and decentralization while achieving massive scalability. This will be a crucial direction for Ethereum's future development.