Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, said that building layer-2 networks to leverage Ethereum’s core features delivers security and efficiency unachievable by earlier enterprise blockchains. The statement was made on X.
“The best way to build an L2 is to lean into the L1’s offerings (security, censorship resistance, proofs, data avail…) more, and reduce your logic to just being a sequencer and a prover (if based, just a prover) over the core execution,” said Buterin. “This is the combination of trust minimization and efficiency that the 2010s enterprise blockchain crew wanted, but was never able to achieve. Now, with Ethereum L2s, you can achieve it. And we’ve already seen successful examples of the L1’s features protecting users’ rights if something on the L2 goes wrong.”
In 2025, alternative Layer-1 (alt-L1) blockchains such as Celo and Gnosis Chain have begun transitioning to Ethereum Layer-2 solutions to benefit from Ethereum’s security and ecosystem. According to The Block, these projects cite lower fees, stronger network effects, and improved interoperability as the main reasons for the move. This reflects a growing industry consensus that Ethereum L2s offer better long-term prospects than competing L1s.
By mid-2025, Ethereum L2 networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base collectively held over $39 billion in total value locked (TVL), compared to less than $10 billion across all alternative L1s. According to L2Beat, L2s have experienced fewer major security incidents and generally offer stronger security guarantees, supporting rapid adoption by both users and developers.
Recent data from Messari and the Celo Foundation indicate that transitioning from L1 to L2 on Ethereum can reduce transaction costs by up to 95% and carbon emissions by more than 80%. Messari reports that Celo’s move to an L2 model is credited with making the network both more efficient and environmentally friendly, accelerating sustainability across the blockchain sector.
Vitalik Buterin is a Russian-Canadian programmer best known for co-founding Ethereum in 2015 after his work with Bitcoin Magazine. According to the Ethereum Foundation, Buterin has shaped the blockchain industry by advocating for L2 scaling and sharding. He remains a leading voice in debates on scalability and decentralization. His influence extends through technical research and global speaking engagements.
Ethereum was launched in July 2015 by Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, and others as a platform for decentralized applications and smart contracts. As said on Ethereum.org, its mission is to build a more open, accessible, and censorship-resistant internet. It is supported by a global developer community now exceeding 350,000 people in 2025. Ethereum continues to lead in smart contract innovation worldwide.
