Not all Ethereum layer 2s are dying, but many general-purpose chains no longer have a reason to exist In this week’s edition of The Protocol Newsletter, we’re looking at the state of the Ethereum layer-2 ecosystem.
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I’m Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter at CoinDesk. We’re revamping the newsletter to bring you a deeper look at the biggest trends, breakthroughs and debates shaping blockchain technology each week. This week, we’re diving into the state of the Ethereum layer-2 ecosystem.
When Zero Network announced it was shutting down last month, the reaction across crypto was weary: Another Ethereum layer-2 just bit the dust. The closure joined a growing list of struggling rollups and came amid renewed debate about whether Ethereum’s sprawling layer-2 ecosystem has become too crowded. At the same time, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has urged developers to rethink the network’s long-term scaling roadmap, while several major projects have shifted away from marketing themselves as general-purpose blockchains and toward more focused applications in payments, stablecoins and tokenized assets.