L2s Are Broken! Here’s the Fix 🚀

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Oh no, it’s 2025 and blockchain is still trying to figure out how to scale! 😱 The second quarter has been a reality check, and let’s be real-L2s are looking more like a bad relationship than a solution. 💔

  • L2s were meant to scale Ethereum, but they’ve introduced new problems, while relying on centralized sequencers that can become single points of failure. 🤡
  • At their core, L2s handle sequencing and state computation. But let’s be honest, who wants to wait 7 days for a transaction to finalize? 🕒
  • Future efficiency lies in separating computation from verification. Because nothing says “innovation” like a supercomputer and a decentralized network working together. 🤖⚡
  • The “total order” model of blockchains is outdated. Time to embrace local, account-based ordering. 🌍

New projects are like, “Wait, are L2s even secure? Or are we just building on a house of cards? 🏗️” Spoiler alert: it’s not pretty. 😅

Are we building a future on a solid foundation or a house of cards? L2s must face and answer these questions. After all, if Ethereum’s base layer were fast, cheap, and infinitely scalable, we’d all be out of a job. 💸

And to answer these questions, it’s necessary to deconstruct the entire concept of an L2 to its fundamental components. Because nothing says “technical debt” like a fragmented workaround. 🧩

An anatomy of L2s

Structure determines function. It’s a basic principle in biology that also holds in computer systems. But let’s be real, L2s are a bit of a mess. 🧹

At its core, every L2 performs two critical functions: Sequencing, i.e., ordering transactions. But why do we still have to wait forever? 🙃

Optimistic Rollups assume all state transitions are valid. But what if they’re not? 😬 ZK Rollups are computationally intensive, but at least they’re less likely to crash. 🚀

Sequencing is a governance and design choice. Some prefer centralized solutions for efficiency (or maybe for that censorship power; who knows). 🕵️‍♀️

State Claim Generation and Verification is where we can do much, much better. Imagine a supercomputer that’s just for computation! 🧠

Once this new state is claimed, its verification becomes a separate, parallelized process. Because nothing says “scalability” like a massive network of verifiers. 🧩

Parallel verification is infinitely scalable

Parallel verification is infinitely scalable. No matter how fast L2s produce claims, the verification network can always catch up. Because nothing says “efficiency” like adding more verifiers. 📈

After sequencing and state verification, the L2’s job is nearly complete. The final step is to publish the verified state to a decentralized network. But why is this so slow? 😤

This final step exposes the elephant in the room: blockchains are terrible settlement layers for L2s! 🐘

For ZK Rollups, this is minutes. For Optimistic Rollups, it’s compounded by a week-long challenge period. Because nothing says “security” like waiting forever. ⏳

Farewell, the “total order” myth in web3

Since Bitcoin, people have been trying hard to squeeze all transactions into a single total order. But let’s be real, it’s a costly myth. 🧢

It’s time to move on. The future is local, account-based ordering. Because nothing says “scalability” like only ordering transactions that interact with the same account. 🔄

Global ordering implies local ordering, but it’s an incredibly naive solution. After 15 years of blockchain, it’s time to embrace progress. 🚀

The age of the L2 compromise is over. It’s time to build on a foundation designed for the future. Because nothing says “innovation” like leaving the past behind. 🌟

Xiaohong Chen

Xiaohong Chen is the Chief Technology Officer at Pi Squared Inc., working on fast, parallel, and decentralized systems for payments and settlement. His interests include program correctness, theorem proving, scalable ZK solutions, and applying these techniques to all programming languages. Xiaohong obtained his BSc in Mathematics at Peking University and PhD in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

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2025-10-16 13:09