Vitalik Buterin wants Layer-2 to become the focus of Ethereum's development

Vitalik Buterin believes it is time to focus on Layer-2 Ethereum rollup solutions to create a stronger boom for the network in the future.

Speaking at ETH Global's Pragma London event on March 14, 2024, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin welcomed the completion of the Dencun upgrade on the network, thereby optimizing transaction costs as well as increasing Enhanced scaling capabilities for Ethereum layer-2 rollup solutions.

At the same time, Buterin believes that "Dencun" is just the beginning, the Ethereum ecosystem needs a major shift in thinking, especially focusing more on building decentralized applications (DApps) on The new Layer-2 can create a stronger boom for the network in the future.

Vitalik Buterin sees "the first decade of Ethereum as a period of focusing on developing internal potential, reflecting the goals the ecosystem wants to achieve, and the second decade will be the period that sees Ethereum breakthrough, creating many global impacts."

The Dencun upgrade is the transition bridge in this story, allowing the Ethereum ecosystem to shift development away from Layer-1, focusing on Layer-2, especially focusing on more construction. dApps.

However, to be able to do so, Layer-1 still needs to continue to play a good role as the foundation for Layer-2 Ethereum, and accept a change in "thinking" to enter the deceleration phase to ensure network stability.

Buterin said the Ethereum ecosystem started by Layer-1 has created countless tools to build dApps, the most important of which is the birth of zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) solutions.

“They have created more scalable applications, and built applications that better protect user privacy. And with the toolsets available today, continuing to build more dApps is becoming easier and easier than it was five years ago.”

Therefore, the "father of Ethereum" calls on builders to apply more layer-2 solutions for development, taking advantage of modern toolkits and protocols such as layer-2 rollups to exploit more. More benefits in terms of privacy, security, improved network performance.

Vitalik Buterin's proposal to "change thinking" is completely valid as the Ethereum network has continuously changed over the past decade, and placing faith in layer-2 rollups may be one of the approaches. The new "10-year-old" ecosystem could have a significant impact on the internet and the traditional financial system.

Especially at the present time, many Layer-2 Ethereum networks such as Optimism, zkSync Era, StarkNet, Base... have recorded transaction fees (gas fees) reduced by more than ten times compared to before, making Dencun more attractive. many new users to this Ethereum ecosystem.

The end of 2023 and early 2024 witnessed many posts and proposals from the founder of Ethereum, most of these initiatives soon became "trends" of the cryptocurrency market. .

In January 2024, Vitalik Buterin proposed the idea of auditing code using AI and classifying 4 directions to combine crypto with AI, after which "AI tokens" exploded one after another, witnessing "crazy" growth. .

In December 2023, Buterin also expressed his desire to change the Proof-of-Stake mechanism to avoid overload for Ethereum, leading to the birth of Liquid Restaking projects - an area that is expected to become a trend. future.

Currently, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is present at the ETHVietnam 2024 event - Ethereum's leading blockchain event series in Southeast Asia - as a speaker to inspire the community to contribute. into the global blockchain ecosystem

On the occasion of his 30th birthday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted a new article on his personal blog titled "My childhood is over" with the core content sharing his journey to becoming a "idol" of the current crypto market.

At the same time, he also recognizes the importance and rapid development of the current generation of young people in the cryptocurrency industry.

Vitalik Buterin recalls that one of the most memorable memories of the past two years is witnessing many people "almost a whole year" younger than him taking on leadership roles in a series of projects. This reminded him that when he was their age, Buterin was also praised as a "young prodigy" who was changing the world like Mark Zuckerberg.

"Seeing all these people who were further along than me, younger than me, made me realize that, if that position ever belonged to me, it doesn't anymore...it's time for the next generation to take over the role that used to be mine".

Vitalik Buterin feels that his thoughts about the world around him have changed over the past 10 years. If in his youth, he considered Mathematics to represent his identity and mostly used them to give answers to all problems, now, the ideals of reasoning in life or exploring research on How to prolong human life is the top concern.

The core reason for the change in thinking expressed by the founder of Ethereum is the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX empire, causing Buterin to think a lot about the possibility of the decline of key figures in cryptocurrency market. That was also the moment he realized that the people he once admired, the predecessors he once aspired to follow, were "no more" over time.

List of "main characters" in the history of the cryptocurrency industry, according to Vitalik Buterin

He also feels that he is a "mysterious person", only focusing on building his own plans, and is very cautious about participating in other people's plans. This stems from an event in 2017 when Buterin accepted an invitation to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, which made him regret it later because he realized "most of my decisions about Ethereum came from pressure." forces and demands of others".

In addition, the founder of Ethereum also shared some lessons learned throughout his youth:

Greed is not the only form of selfishness, there is also cowardice, laziness and resentment...all of which can cause negativity.

There is no need to explain to others that your preferences and arguments are absolutely correct to avoid unnecessary conflicts. Just because someone doesn't share your views doesn't mean they're a bad person in any way.

The importance of setting goals: There is no need to set goals too high, always maintain the habit of doing something 1% better every day, it will lead to a long-term positive impact on your life. your mind.

At the end of the article, the founder of Ethereum expressed that 2023 is a year he has contemplated many things. All things cannot avoid "departure" and "rebirth" for new and better things to appear. The world was changing rapidly with new frameworks forcing him to change in an attempt to understand it, similarly his own influence in the market was also changing.

Therefore, Buterin believes that it is time to support a new wave of developers and thinkers to replace "the old guys".

Vitalik Buterin also spoke out for the first time to clarify a "sensitive" photo of him that spread in 2022, claiming that the object in the bag was a USB cable, not something like people often rumored.

It can be seen that recent times, especially the end of 2023 and early 2024, have witnessed many new posts and proposals from the founder of Ethereum. Previously, Vitalik Buterin gave 4 important advice to investors, as well as called on the Ethereum community to return to its original values, and at the same time announced the 2024 roadmap for Ethereum.