ETHTaipei | Vitalik's Vision for the Ultimate Expansion of Ethereum L2: Efficiency, Security, and Interoperability

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin detailed the future blueprint for Ethereum L2 scaling and security in his opening speech at ETH Taipei this morning, looking forward to achieving a more efficient and faster transaction confirmation decentralized network.

L2 scalability is a key breakthrough, but security cannot be sacrificed.

Vitalik first pointed out that Ethereum is transitioning from theoretical experiments to practical applications, and its L2 technology is also reaching an important turning point. Today, millions of people are using Ethereum for payments, savings, international remittances, and DeFi operations, with applications such as Farcaster and Worldcoin significantly increasing usage.

In this regard, he reiterated his conviction:

Expansion should not sacrifice the characteristics of decentralization, including openness, censorship-resistance, and security.

The scalability of L1 still needs to be improved, but L2 can upgrade more quickly.

(ETH Taipei | Vitalik looks forward to Ethereum's upcoming merge with Bitcoin: Happy April Fool's Day! )

Technical Blueprint: More Blobs, More Transactions, Lower Costs

Vitalik also shared the roadmap for the future of Ethereum, which primarily focuses on "increasing the number of blobs and maximizing transaction efficiency while ensuring security."

Increase the number of blobs from 6 to 48, then to 512(, boosting TPS to tens of thousands.

Introducing a 2-of-3 security architecture )Optimistic + ZK + TEE( balancing security and immediacy.

Simplify the interaction time between Layer 2 and Layer 1 to 12 seconds or even shorter.

) ETH circulation returns to before The Merge! The Blobs mechanism has led to too few burn numbers, is Ethereum becoming more usable while ETH is increasingly disappointing?

Multiple upgrades to maximize the expansion of blob space and TPS.

He emphasized that the vision of tens of thousands of TPS ( transactions per second will be realized through multiple Ethereum network upgrades in the next few years )

Petra Upgrade: Expected to be implemented in April, expanding blob space from 3 to 6, and increasing TPS from 200 to 400.

Futaba and Theodos upgrade: Introducing data sharding, aiming to increase to 48 or even 512 blobs, with potential reaching 50,000 TPS.

(Ethereum Pectra upgrade landing on Holesky testnet, whales optimistic about the prospects continue to accumulate ETH)

Security Challenges and New Designs: 2-of-3 Model Architecture

Vitalik also pointed out that while there seem to be no issues on the surface with the current L2 operations, there are still challenges in terms of code verification and complete trust without human intervention. He proposed the concept of "Stage 2", meaning that the security of L2 should come entirely from its code itself, rather than external trust mechanisms.

He suggested that by integrating various technologies such as optimistic rollups, ZK rollups, and trusted execution environments (TEE), a one-third mechanism design could be created, which would reduce single point failure risks and achieve truly secure L2:

Optimistic Rollups: more mature but high latency

ZK Rollups: Fast but the technology is not yet mature

Trusted Execution Environment (TEE): Relies on hardware security assumptions

Through the "2-of-3 model", where any two of the three parties must agree to confirm a transaction, a balance between security and immediacy is achieved.

12 seconds to complete cross L2 asset transfers: Aggregated proof is the key solution

Looking to the future, Vitalik hopes that L2 can be interoperable like Ethereum sharding, allowing users to complete cross-L2 asset transfers within 12 seconds, without relying on market makers or additional bridging protocols, and even supporting non-fungible assets such as NFTs.

This will make L2 more native and fluid, truly "like Ethereum itself."

In addition, Vitalik also pointed out that the current cost of submitting proofs to L1 is too high (tens of thousands of dollars), which is detrimental to the widespread development of L2. He suggested constructing a Proof Aggregation protocol (Proof Aggregation) to significantly reduce costs by merging proofs from multiple L2s, wallets, and protocols, making L2 truly economically viable.

Looking Ahead to 2025: Achieving a Highly Scalable and Secure Ethereum Ecosystem

Finally, Vitalik also expressed confidence in the prospects of Ethereum over the next 2 years:

It is expected that by 2025, L2 can achieve second-level withdrawals and scalability of over 100,000 TPS.

The longer-term goal is to fully replace Optimistic and TEE with ZK technology within 3 to 4 years, achieving mathematically provable complete security.

He concluded:

We are building an Ethereum ecosystem that serves hundreds of millions of users without compromising on security, censorship resistance, or openness.

This article ETHTaipei｜Vitalik envisions the ultimate goal of Ethereum L2 expansion: efficiency, security, and interoperability. Originally published on Chain News ABMedia.