Say goodbye to big and comprehensive, the breakthrough of Layer2 lies in "verticalization"

The real value of Ethereum Layer 2 networks lies in their role as "experimental innovation sandboxes," where high-risk innovations can be tested without endangering the main Ethereum ecosystem. Different Layer2s are exploring diverse paths: Arbitrum with DAO governance, Optimism with RetroPGF funding, Base with CEX integration, and ZKSync with account abstraction. This has led to the emergence of specialized chains for various user groups, including enterprise compliance, privacy, and high-frequency gaming.

The breakthrough for Layer2 is moving away from the concept of a single, general-purpose chain. Instead, the future is in "verticalization" – building specific chains tailored to new mass adoption needs. This includes onboarding major game IPs, enabling private and compliant transactions, serving AI Agents requiring high-frequency interaction, and providing compliant on-ramps for Real World Assets (RWA).

While some independent chains sacrifice decentralization for performance, Layer2s maintain Ethereum's security and decentralized features. By abandoning internal technical competition and focusing on real-world business integration with traditional finance (TradFi), Layer2s can evolve into a diverse ecosystem of specialized scaling solutions.

This is a very meaningful perspective. It seems to be the most positive interpretation of Ethereum layer 2 that we have seen for a long time: the real value of layer 2s is an "experimental innovation sandbox"

For example, Arbtrium can explore DAO governance, Optimism can implement the RetroPGF funding mechanism, Base can try CEX integration, ZKSync can promote account abstraction, etc. If these innovations are implemented directly on the main network, the risks will be too great, but even if they fail on layer2, they will not endanger the entire ecosystem.

What’s interesting is that it seems that different layer2s can serve completely different user groups. For example, there are enterprise chains that focus on compliance, privacy chains that claim to be censorship-resistant, gaming chains that can achieve high-frequency transactions, and so on.

Looking back, there are indeed quite a few layer2+layer3 solutions built on the basis of various stacks. Although none of them has become the expected savior for Ethereum, they have indeed made outstanding contributions in terms of the "diversity" of experimental scalability solutions.

Of course, you can also say that they are all for the purpose of issuing tokens in the end, but there is an underlying logic: they at least continue and inherit the decentralized security features of Ethereum to a certain extent.

Otherwise, the current star product Hyperliquid and some Wall Street giants’ independent exclusive chain layer 1 thinking, although it can achieve a smooth upgrade in experience, are essentially sacrificing decentralization in exchange for extreme performance. Moreover, these independent chains are also likely to issue tokens. What they do may not be fundamentally different from layer 2 or even worse, but this step is a complete negation of the layer 2 experimental field.

Therefore, there is actually a very clear path in front of Layer 2. Abandoning the big and comprehensive idea of the General-Purpose chain, the right way is to explore how to conduct Sepecific-Chain under the new Mass Adoption needs. For example, how to introduce well-known game IPs, how to meet privacy transactions and compliance, how to serve the high-frequency interaction needs of AI Agents, how to provide a compliant facial channel for RWA assets, etc.

In other words, as long as Layer2s abandons the internal competition in the purely technical architecture, abandons the obsession with the big and comprehensive universal chain, and focuses on the business integration with TradFi, the situation of layer2 may not be as pessimistic as everyone thinks.