Vitalik Buterin: Copy-Paste L2s Are Hurting Ethereum’s Progress

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has said that many new Layer 2 (L2) networks are repeating shallow design patterns, and warned that generic EVM chains with optimistic bridges are holding back meaningful progress. His comments extend the public debate over whether today’s L2 ecosystem still aligns with Ethereum’s original scaling goals. No More “Copypasta” EVM Chains In a February 5 post on X, Buterin argued that comfort and familiarity, not technical necessity, are driving many L2 launches, leading to copy-paste designs that add little beyond surface-level Ethereum compatibility. The developer drew a comparison between infrastructure choices and governance habits, writing that making yet another EVM chain and adding “an optimistic bridge to Ethereum with a one-week delay” has become routine in the same way forking Compound once dominated DAO governance. “That’s something we’ve done far too much for far too long, because we got comfortable, and which has sapped our imagination and put us in a dead end,” Buterin wrote. He was even more direct about alternative designs that drop Ethereum bridges entirely. “If you make an EVM chain without an optimistic bridge to Ethereum, that’s even worse,” he said, adding, “We don’t friggin need more copypasta EVM chains, and we definitely don’t need even more L1s.” Buterin insisted that Ethereum’s base layer is already scaling and will continue to add EVM block space through 2026, though not without limits. He noted that some workloads, such as AI-related applications, may still require lower latency or specialized execution environments. In his view, those needs should push developers toward genuinely new architectures rather than lightly modified replicas. Matching “Vibes” With Real Ethereum Connection Buterin’s criticism builds on comments he made earlier, suggesting many L2s no longer meet the original definition of scaling Ethereum because they fail to fully inherit its security. He argued that Ethereum no longer needs L...