Ethereum Founder Redefines L2 Priorities: Fast Withdrawals Become Key

The recent views of the co-founder of Ethereum on L2 fast withdrawals have sparked widespread discussion in the industry. He believes that achieving fast withdrawals within one hour is more important than reaching Stage 2, and this adjustment in priority contains profound thinking behind it.

Firstly, the one-week withdrawal waiting period has indeed become a tricky issue in practical applications. It not only severely affects user experience, but more importantly, it significantly increases the cost of cross-chain transactions. For example, for intent-based bridging solutions like ERC-7683, liquidity providers need to bear a week of capital occupation costs, which directly leads to an increase in cross-chain fees. The end result is that users are forced to choose to trust multi-signature schemes with weaker assumptions, which goes against the original intention of L2.

To solve this problem, the founder of Ethereum proposed the concept of a 2-of-3 hybrid proof system that combines three technologies: ZK, OP, and TEE. Among them, ZK and TEE can provide immediacy, while TEE and OP both have sufficient production verification experience. Theoretically, any combination of two systems can ensure security, thus avoiding the time cost of purely waiting for ZK technology to mature completely.

Secondly, the founder's new stance seems to reveal a more pragmatic side of him. He has transformed from an idealist who once spoke passionately about "decentralized crusades" and "anti-censorship" to a pragmatist who now provides hard metrics: 1-hour withdrawals, 12-second finality, everything has become simple and clear. This shift is actually paving the way for the ultimate form of the grand strategy centered around "Rollup", aiming to make Ethereum L1 truly a unified settlement layer and liquidity hub.

Once fast withdrawals and cross-chain aggregation are realized, other public chains will face significantly increased difficulty in challenging the Ethereum ecosystem. This shift from "ideal-driven" to "result-oriented" reflects that the entire Ethereum ecosystem is moving towards a more commercial and competitive direction.

However, to achieve the ideal user experience and the long-term goal of infrastructure building, the Ethereum ecosystem will likely need to engage in fierce competition over the maturity and cost control of ZK technology in the future. Currently, although ZK technology is advancing rapidly, cost remains a real constraint. A ZK proof costing over 500k gas means that only an hourly submission frequency can be achieved in the short term; to reach the ultimate goal of 12 seconds, breakthroughs in aggregation technology are still needed.

This technical route also presents new challenges for the L2 competitive landscape. L2 projects that can achieve breakthroughs in ZK proof optimization may find new footholds, while projects that continue to focus on Optimism may face directional issues in future development.

Overall, this adjustment of priorities not only reflects the Ethereum ecosystem's proactive response to user needs but also demonstrates its flexible strategy in the face of technological and market challenges. With the continuous development of rapid withdrawal and cross-chain aggregation technologies, we can expect the Ethereum ecosystem to present a more efficient and user-friendly appearance in the future.