Ethereum rethinks L2 role as activity rises but value secured declines

Ethereum’s long-standing vision of layer-2 networks as extensions of the base chain is being reassessed, even as rollup usage continues to grow. 

The shift comes amid two converging trends: rapid progress in Ethereum’s own layer-1 scaling roadmap and slower-than-expected advances in rollup decentralization.

In a recent essay on 3 February, Vitalik Buterin argued that the original “rollup-centric roadmap” no longer fully reflects Ethereum’s current evolution.

The comments arrive at a time when on-chain data shows a widening gap between L2 activity and the value secured by those networks.

L2 usage grows, but capital backing slips

According to L2Beat data, total value secured across Ethereum rollups currently stands at $40.3 billion, down 13.2% year-on-year. 

The decline marks a notable shift from mid-2025, when value secured peaked closer to the $50 billion range before trending lower into early 2026.

At the same time, L2 transaction activity has moved in the opposite direction. Rollups are now processing roughly 3,470 user operations per second (UOPS), a sharp increase from near-flat levels earlier in 2025. 

The step-change in activity began around September and has largely been sustained, highlighting growing usage even as capital efficiency weakens.

The divergence suggests that rollups are increasingly used for execution and low-cost transactions, but without a corresponding rise in assets committed under Ethereum-level security guarantees.

L1 scaling reduces pressure on rollups

Buterin’s reassessment reflects broader changes underway on Ethereum itself. Gas fees on the base layer have remained low for extended periods, and core developers are preparing for significant gas-limit increases in 2026. 

As a result, Ethereum no longer relies on rollups to provide block-space capacity as it once did.

In his post, Buterin acknowledged that many L2s have struggled to reach full decentralization, with some projects openly signalling that they may not progress beyond partial trust-assumption models. 

In several cases, regulatory or operational requirements have led teams to retain control over sequencing or upgrades.

That reality, Buterin argued, makes it impractical to continue treating all L2s as “branded shards” of Ethereum, each expected to carry the same social and security responsibilities as the base chain.

What the data suggests

The current data supports this reframing. Rising rollup activity shows that L2s remain central to Ethereum’s day-to-day usage, particularly for cost-sensitive transactions. 

However, the decline in value secured indicates that users and developers may increasingly view rollups as execution layers rather than repositories for large pools of capital.

As Ethereum’s base layer scales and absorbs more demand directly, the ecosystem appears to be transitioning from a single, uniform L2 vision to a more diverse set of networks, each optimized for different trade-offs.

Final Thoughts

• Rollup usage continues to expand, but falling value secured suggests a shift in how users rely on L2s within the Ethereum ecosystem.
• With L1 scaling accelerating, Ethereum is repositioning rollups as differentiated networks rather than uniform extensions of the base chain.