Gnosis and Zisk announce the launch of the "Ethereum Economic Zone" Rollup framework, co-funded by the Ethereum Foundation

Golden Finance reported that on March 29, a group of Ethereum projects announced a new initiative aimed at addressing a growing issue with Ethereum: its ecosystem is becoming overly fragmented. At the EthCC conference held in Cannes, France, a project called the “Ethereum Economic Zone” (EEZ) was officially unveiled, targeting seamless collaboration among the many scaling networks of Ethereum (i.e., Layer 2, or L2).

The framework was co-developed by Gnosis, Zisk, and the Ethereum Foundation. Among them, Gnosis is a development team that has long focused on Ethereum infrastructure, while Zisk specializes in zero-knowledge proof technology.

For years, Ethereum has relied on L2 networks to achieve scaling, but these networks often operate like “islands.” Users need to transfer assets between different networks through cross-chain bridges, a process that is often slow, costly, and risky; meanwhile, developers frequently need to replicate the same tools on each network.

The goal of EEZ is to change this situation, allowing these networks to operate as a unified system overall. Simply put, it will enable applications and transactions on different Ethereum networks to interact instantaneously—without the need for cross-chain bridges—while still relying on Ethereum’s core security.

This release comes at a time when discussions about Ethereum’s long-term reliance on L2 scaling paths are heating up again. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently stated that as fragmentation and user experience issues persist, the ecosystem may need to reevaluate its L2-centric roadmap. EEZ appears to be a direct response to such concerns, attempting to integrate the entire network ecosystem by unifying liquidity, infrastructure, and user workflows, rather than continuing to add fragmented chains.