Vitalik's L2 Fraction Reduction: From Fragmentation to Integrated Native Rollup

In recent months, Ethereum has undergone a significant strategic reevaluation. Vitalik Buterin’s public reflections on the scalability roadmap have become the main focus of community discussions, and the core of the fragmentation reduction narrative within the L2 ecosystem is increasingly replacing the past vision of fragmentation. Vitalik’s sharp statement—that the Rollup-Centric strategy set five years ago is no longer aligned with Ethereum’s evolving L1 capabilities—was initially interpreted as a “rejection of L2.” However, deeper analysis shows that this is actually a transition toward a more mature model: not eliminating L2, but accelerating fragmentation reduction and recalibrating the roles of each layer.

Why Fragmentation Is a Major Issue for Ethereum Today

When L2 first emerged as a scalability solution, the number of chains was limited but the prospects were clear: L1 handles security, L2 handles expansion. But reality has proven far more complex than expected. Recent statistics show that recorded L2s now number in the hundreds, creating a phenomenon Vitalik calls “liquidity fragmentation”—a structural problem eroding the ecosystem’s foundation.

This fragmentation manifests in three serious dimensions. First, liquidity that was once centralized on Ethereum now forms disconnected islands of value, making cross-chain asset access difficult for users. Second, the growth in the number of L2s is inversely related to their decentralization maturity—most are still in “Stage 1” according to L2BEAT’s evaluation framework, relying on security councils and human interventions. Third, reducing fragmentation is not only a technical issue but also an economic one: when liquidity is dispersed, cross-chain transaction costs rise, and market efficiency declines.

Data from L2BEAT shows that decentralization indicators (Stages) serve as a health barometer for the ecosystem. Fully centralized-controlled L2s—what Vitalik calls “secondary L1s with cross-chain bridge attributes”—are essentially parasites draining Ethereum, not true expansion. This implies that reducing fragmentation is not optional but essential to maintain protocol integrity.

Native Rollup and Pre-Confirmation: Technical Solutions for Fragmentation Reduction

In this reevaluation context, the concepts of Native Rollup and Based Rollup are gaining renewed attention. If the past five years were shaped by a “Rollup-Centric” approach, today’s discussions shift to more concrete questions: Can rollups “grow inside Ethereum” rather than “depend outside Ethereum”?

The fundamental difference between Based Rollup and traditional L2s like Arbitrum and Optimism lies in the elimination of independent sequencer layers. Instead, ordering is done directly by Ethereum’s L1 nodes. This means verification logic similar to rollups is integrated at the protocol level, combining extreme performance optimization with protocol-level security—creating an experience where rollups feel like an organic part of Ethereum.

However, a real challenge exists: if the system fully follows L1’s pace (12 seconds per slot), user experience feels too slow. Even with optimal compression, finality still takes about 13 minutes—too long for financial transactions.

This is where pre-confirmation (pre-commitment) comes in as an elegant hybrid solution. Vitalik’s recommended model combines:

• Sequential blocks with low latency for responsive user experience
• Finalized blocks at the end of slots for compatibility with L1
• Pre-confirmation mechanisms to guarantee transaction certainty within 15-30 seconds, without waiting for full finality

In practice, pre-confirmation leverages validator voting that occurs at each slot in Ethereum’s PoS system. When a block gathers enough validator votes spread across early slots, even before finality, it can be considered “highly unlikely to be reverted under reasonable attack models.” This is not a new consensus mechanism but a reconfiguration of existing ones—creating an intermediate trust layer crucial for cross-chain interoperability.

This strategy elegantly balances “absolute security” and “fast user experience,” allowing cross-chain systems, intent settlers, and wallets to proceed based on protocol signals within 15-30 seconds, rather than waiting 13 minutes.

The Future Ecosystem: From Extreme Expansion to Protocol Unification

By 2026, the narrative around Ethereum is shifting fundamentally. The focus moves from “extreme expansion” toward “protocol unification, differentiated layers, and endogenous security.” A clear sign of this transition: several Ethereum L2 solution leaders have announced commitments to explore and adopt Native Rollup pathways, signaling acceptance that fragmentation reduction is an inevitable direction.

In this journey, the role of L1 is being recalibrated as “the safest settlement layer hosting the most critical activities,” while L2s pursue “differentiation and specialization”—supporting extreme scenarios such as:

• Privacy-focused virtual machines
• Throughput-boosting expansions
• Environments tailored for AI agents and non-financial applications

This view aligns with Wang Xiaowei, Co-Director of the Ethereum Foundation, emphasizing a clear division of roles in a mature Ethereum ecosystem.

Three Pillars of Innovation to Surpass Infrastructure Limitations

However, the path of fragmentation reduction raises new, more fundamental questions. As infrastructure performance ceases to be the main bottleneck—thanks to Native Rollup, pre-confirmation, and ongoing L1 improvements—the greatest constraints shift to more human layers: wallets and entry barriers.

The insights from imToken reiterated last year capture this essence accurately: “When infrastructure becomes invisible, the true limit of scalability is determined by the user interaction experience at the entry point.”

Therefore, the future of Ethereum’s ecosystem breaking through limitations will focus not only on TPS or blob counts but on three structural directions:

First: Native Account Abstraction and Lower Entry Barriers. Ethereum is pushing for native Account Abstraction (Native AA), where smart contract wallets become the default, replacing complex seed phrases and EOA addresses. For wallet users like imToken, this means entry barriers to crypto are as simple as signing up for a social media account—democratizing access in its most essential form.

Second: Privacy and ZK-EVM as Core Competencies. Privacy is no longer marginal but a core competitive advantage. With mature ZK-EVM, Ethereum will provide on-chain privacy protections for commercial applications while maintaining protocol transparency—becoming a critical differentiator in the public chain competition.

Third: On-Chain Sovereignty of AI Agents. By 2026, transaction initiators may no longer be humans but AI agents. An imminent challenge is establishing trustless interaction standards: How to ensure AI agents act according to user intent and are not controlled by third parties? Ethereum’s decentralized settlement layer will serve as the most reliable arbiter of trust in this emerging AI economy.

Conclusion: From Illusory Fragmentation to Consolidated Foundations

The initial question remains relevant: Is Vitalik truly “rejecting” L2? A more accurate answer is that he is rejecting the narrative of excessive fragmentation—chains disconnected from the main network, each pursuing its own agenda. This is not the end of L2 but a new chapter.

From the illusion of “brand fragmentation” spreading across chains, the evolution toward Native Rollup and pre-confirmation actually reinforces Ethereum’s L1 position as the ultimate trust foundation. Fragmentation reduction does not weaken L2; it accelerates its integration into a deeper, more meaningful unity.

However, this pragmatic technical approach also presents a stern test: only innovations rooted in the core principles of Ethereum’s new stage and aligned with the mainnet will endure and thrive in the next era of exploration. Ethereum’s future is not about the number of chains but about unity built through planned, measured, and sustainable fragmentation reduction.