Layer 3 is currently just a concept on paper, but it is also opening up many unpredictable scenarios in the future when all the major Layer 2 projects will develop their own Layer 3. So what are Layer 2s thinking?
Let’s clarify more in the article below!
What is Layer 3?
Each Layer 2 builds a Layer 3 in their own way. Eg:
- Layer 3 of ZkSync has a similar concept to Internet Of Blockchain.
- Layer 3 of StarkWare is simpler than Layer 2 of Layer 2 because the concept is somewhat simpler so StarkWare can be deployed to Layer 4.
- Optimism’s Layer 3 is similar to StarkWare but they are more ambitious when sharing technology so other parties can fork it.
However, although the implementation methods are different, all developments on Layer 3 come from Layer 2. Similarly, taking Layer 2 even further than Layer 1 as the root.
Layer 2 Is Just the Beginning
Expanding is still a headache
When we look at L2 and its updates in terms of transaction speed and transaction costs, we think this will be the endgame for Ethereum scaling but it is not. In fact, the expansion numbers that L2s bring are not enough for mass adoption. The transaction speed of Optimistic Chain is only about 200 – 500 TPS while ZkRollup Chain is faster with 2,000 TPS. Besides, Validium offers a better scalability solution of about 10,000 TPS but there is a trade-off in security. But if validators have problems, users cannot send money from L2 to L1.
|
Ethereum |
Optimistic Rollup |
Zk Rollup |
Validium |
Visa |
Ether 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
15 TPS |
500 TPS |
2,000 TPS |
10,000 TPS |
20,000TPS |
100,000 TPS |
ZkRollup’s scalability is the best currently but is still far behind Visa or Master Card with transaction speeds of more than 20,000 TPS. That is not enough, it needs to be faster, that is in case we have not discussed legal issues yet.
L2 improvements such as optimizing call data, improving parts, but also optimizing all transaction speeds also increased by about 200% and that is why Layer 3 was born.
Why not wait for Ethereum 2.0
This is an extremely good question, many of you will ask: “It is expected that around 2024 we will have Ethereum 2.0 and that is also the time when Layer 3 will start operating, so why not wait until then? “.
To answer this question, we will divide it into two clear ideas:
- Ethereum often delays.
- The benefits that L2 gains when implementing L3.
Ethereum often delays
Ethereum’s frequent delays have been an eternal story for some of the following reasons:
- Technological difficulties.
- Deployment must be carefully calculated otherwise it will cause the collapse of the entire network such as DeFi, NFT, Gaming and other pieces of the puzzle. There are tens of thousands of projects being deployed on Ethereum. What will happen if Ethereum has even the smallest vulnerability?
- The Ethereum community is one of the most decentralized communities, any updates need to go through voting and there are proposals that have to be made over and over again to be approved, making updates easily late. . That is also the disadvantage of a decentralized network.
Reality has proven that Etherum’s upgrade from POW to POS was planned from 2017 – 2018, but it took until 2022 for the successful update, which is only 1/2 of the way to DankSharding.
With Sharding, it is also converted to another implementation called DankSharding. So we wonder if 1/2 of the journey took 4-5 years, what about the remaining 1/2 of the journey, will DankSharding be applied or is there another way of implementing Sharding. Besides, as Ethereum’s community grows larger, voting to approve an update takes more and more time.
So there is a high possibility that by 2024 we may still not have DankSharding as set out in the development roadmap.
The benefits that L2 gains when implementing L3
What L3 promises to bring is no different from Ethereum 2.0, which is high transaction speed and extremely low transaction costs.
If L2 brings an expansion of about 30 – 150 times compared to L1, then in theory L3 will have the ability to expand much more and with such speed, mass adoption is completely possible. However, it is all just theory and has not been tested in practice.
In my opinion, L2s deploy L3s, but in terms of technical aspects and what we are seeing from L2 projects, L3 will be much bigger than L2. Just like companies like Offchain Lab, Matter Lab and StarkWare building L2 is just the beginning, the stage where they build the infrastructure to serve L3 or L2 is a test version of building stacks. overlap.
Another point, projects and DApps at L2 can completely move to L3 normally.
As far as I can see, L3s will use L2 as data storage and if so, it is likely that L3 will have to use L2’s tokens to pay these costs, which will increase use cases and popularity. for tokens of L2s. However, this issue is still just speculation and more information is needed in the future.
Besides, as Vitalik shared, the fact that L2s develop themselves as a company is that it moves faster and applies much earlier than Ethereum.
What is the war here?
Like L1s, we have a war between L2s and essentially a war between L3s is also a war of L2s.
The battle to attract developers and attract development projects on your ecosystem can be through grants, offline events, global or local hackathons. Having developers means having projects through reasonable incentive programs that attract cash flow and users, or if it’s a bigger game, they have to create a trend to create community fomo to their ecosystem. .
Our opportunity lies in considering investing and holding L2 tokens at the appropriate times. Besides, if L2s intend to create trends on L3, it is required to have investment-oriented projects. and behind-the-scenes projects for us to seize investment opportunities.
Summary
Layer 3 is still very early, which is a very good condition for us to consider its formation, development and development direction.
