This chapter explores the effectiveness of base rollups in addressing Ethereum's scalability issues while balancing user welfare and validator incentives. It outlines necessary improvements for Ethereum's layer one, including reducing block times and adopting zero-knowledge technology to enhance performance. The discussion emphasizes the importance of innovation and effective integration of new technologies in shaping Ethereum's future usability.
Is the Ethereum roadmap… off track? Have we lost the plot? Are L2s running interference, intercepting all the users, transactions, and value from reaching the L1? And if all of this is real, and not just FUD, what should we do about it?
We have Max Resnick on the show today, he's an Ethereum researcher working at Special Mechanism Group and he’s got some opinions that are contrary to what is typically found out of the Ethereum Rollup Centric Roadmap.
Max explains why Ethereum is breaking down on its vision for bringing the world onto decentralized, censorship resistant, permissionless blockchains, and suggests possible alternative directions.
0:00 Intro 5:08 Max’s Contrarian Take 12:20 The State of Rollups 17:59 Are L2s Extensions of Ethereum? 27:52 What Needs to Change 44:33 Based Rollups 50:05 The Holy Grail Blockchain 59:02 Scaling the L1 1:05:29 Max’s Incentives 1:09:53 Why Not Solana? 1:14:06 Navigating ETH’s Roadmap 1:18:05 ETH: The Asset 1:22:15 Value Capture 1:23:58 Call to Action 1:26:43 Closing & Disclaimers