TL;DR
- Scaling Reality: Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum’s expanding L1 blockspace reduces the need for new EVM chains, arguing that many recent launches repeat the same optimistic‑bridge pattern without adding value.
- Innovation Gap: He warns that copy‑paste chains fragment liquidity and fail to expand blockchain capabilities, urging developers to focus on privacy, specialized execution, and ultra‑low‑latency designs.
- Honest Positioning: While supportive of deeply integrated app chains and institutional systems that publish cryptographic proofs, Buterin insists that projects must accurately represent their relationship to Ethereum rather than rely on superficial branding.
Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin has intensified his critique of the growing wave of EVM‑compatible chains, arguing that the ecosystem is facing a creativity deficit rather than a shortage of blockspace. In a recent X post, he reiterated that Ethereum’s base layer is already scaling and will soon deliver substantial EVM capacity, making many new chains redundant. His central message: launching another generic EVM network is no longer innovation, but habit.
Have been following reactions to what I said about L2s about 1.5 days ago.
One important thing that I believe is: "make yet another EVM chain and add an optimistic bridge to Ethereum with a 1 week delay" is to infra what forking Compound is to governance – something we've done…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 5, 2026
Ethereum’s Scaling Roadmap Undercuts the Need for New EVM Chains
Vitalik Buterin emphasized that Ethereum’s Layer 1 roadmap is steadily expanding blockspace, reducing the justification for new chains that merely replicate existing execution environments. He warned that the pattern of deploying an EVM chain with an optimistic bridge and long withdrawal delays mirrors past governance stagnation, where familiarity replaced meaningful progress. While he acknowledged that specialized workloads, including AI‑driven systems, may eventually require lower latency than a scaled L1 can offer, he argued that this does not validate the proliferation of copy‑paste networks.
A recurring theme in Vitalik Buterin’s critique is the fragmentation caused by standalone EVM Layer 1s. He argued that these chains dilute liquidity and composability while offering no technical advantage. Systems that maintain only superficial bridges to Ethereum, often for marketing optics, contribute little to the broader ecosystem. For Vitalik Buterin, genuine alignment requires deep integration, not symbolic connectivity.
Innovation Should Expand Capabilities, Not Repeat Patterns
Buterin urged developers to pursue architectures that introduce new capabilities rather than replicate existing ones. He highlighted areas such as privacy, application‑specific execution efficiency, and ultra‑low‑latency environments as examples where fresh ideas could meaningfully advance decentralized systems. Projects that fail to expand the design space, he suggested, should reconsider whether launching a chain is necessary at all.
Despite his criticism, Buterin clarified that not all app‑specific chains are misguided. He pointed to models where issuance, settlement, and user accounts remain on Ethereum L1 while high‑frequency execution occurs on a rollup that directly reads Ethereum state. He also described institutional systems that publish cryptographic proofs onchain as philosophically aligned, provided they are marketed honestly and not framed as Ethereum scaling solutions.
