Vitalik Buterin, a prominent figure in the Ethereum community, has reaffirmed his commitment to prioritizing decentralization in layer-2 scaling solutions. He has announced that beginning in 2024, he will only publicly endorse layer-2 networks that reach at least “stage 1+” on his decentralization scale. Buterin emphasized the seriousness of this approach and hinted at a potential grace period for innovative projects that are still in development.
He pointed out that numerous teams working on zero-knowledge rollups have indicated they are on track to meet the “stage 1” criteria by the end of the year, which has generated excitement within the community. Buterin remarked that the time of relying on simpler, less secure technologies is drawing to a close, making way for more robust cryptographic trust mechanisms.
In 2022, Buterin introduced a three-stage framework for evaluating the decentralization of Ethereum scaling rollups. The initial phase, referred to as ‘stage 0’ or ‘full training wheels’, involves projects that identify as rollups but operate under a basic multisignature wallet, lacking the need for fraud or validity proofs. While users can conduct transactions and withdrawals without operator intervention, this stage does not offer sufficient decentralization.
Transitioning to “stage 1,” which is the minimum standard he will acknowledge, layer-2 solutions must implement an active fraud-proof or validity-proof system. In this phase, governance mechanisms are more stringent, requiring a minimum of six out of eight signatures and the inclusion of an external quorum-blocking group to enforce upgrades, which should come with a seven-day delay.
The ultimate goal is “stage 2” or “no training wheels,” where no entity can supersede the finalized code output, provided it is devoid of bugs. This phase permits minimal security council intervention, strictly for identified bugs, along with a 30-day activation delay for upgrades. Earlier this year, several layer-2 rollup teams expressed optimism about achieving this level of decentralization within a few years.
