How Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Defines “Stage 1+” Layer 2 Networks

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said he plans to publicly refer to only “Stage 1+” Layer 2 networks from 2025 onwards.

Buterin, who has 5.4 million followers on Twitter and is one of the most influential voices in the crypto world, said he might make some exceptions to this rule.

For example, “We might give a short grace period to really interesting new projects.”

“It doesn't matter if I invested or if you're my friend or not, it's stage 1 or fail,” he said in a Twitter post.

Ethereum is known as an “L1 blockchain.” L2, or Layer 2 networks, are secondary frameworks that are built on top of an L1 like Ethereum. They can be used to reduce “congestion” on the main network and improve speed and efficiency. Some of the most popular L2s include Optimism, Arbitrum, and Polygon.

In 2022, Buterin posted an official definition of what he considers to be “Stage 1” or “Stage 2” L2, which may help clear up some confusion for those outside the ETH community.

There are a few things to consider when defining a “Stage 1” project, but Vitalik's definition focuses on security. In general, he calls Stage 1 projects “limited training wheels” projects.

He said stage one “must be a viable scheme that proves fraud and validity, with the power to actually decide which state routes to accept or reject through roll-up agreements.”

Additionally, he said, “We need a multisig-based override mechanism (a “security council”) that can override the outputs of the fraud and validity proof systems and post-state routes, for use in case of bugs in the proof system code.”

His focus on security is not unjustified: As of 2024, parts of Ethereum L2 have suffered significant security issues, necessitating governance intervention.

In May, an Ethereum layer-2 network called Linea ran into trouble when attackers used an exploit to steal $2.3 million worth of ETH from a decentralized exchange called Velocore, which runs on Linea.

Linea’s management chose to freeze all transactions on the network as a damage control measure.

But the founders remain optimistic about the number of projects likely to make it to stage one.

“Multiple ZK Rollup teams have told me they are on track to reach Stage 1 by the end of the year. Excited to see it happen!” Buterin wrote in a recent tweet.

The news comes as ETH founders have been vocal about the ecosystem becoming more selective about which projects it supports in 2024.

“Ecosystem standards need to become stricter. Up until now we have been lenient and have accepted any project as long as it claims to be 'on the path to decentralization,'” he said in a June blog post. “By the end of the year, I believe our standards should be raised and we should only treat projects as rollups if they have actually reached at least Stage 1.”

Editor: Stacey Elliott.