Would Ethereum Layer-2 Chains Be Capable Of Surviving The Merge

The demand for networks like Ethereum will increase exponentially as adoption grows. Poapster, a contributor to Harvest Finance, a leading DeFi yield farming technology, is optimistic about the future.

The necessity for layer-2s will be lessened if Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake meets its goal of addressing gas fees and transaction volume.

Even with cryptocurrency’s rising popularity since 2020, mainstream acceptance is still a long way off, with only 4% of the population possessing cryptocurrency in 2022.

Ethereum will still require layer-2 chains after The Merge, according to the crypto industry, but this isn’t a foregone conclusion. This year, Ethereum will finally switch to proof-of-stake, with the goal of:

Attainment of some of the gas fee difficulties in the end. Layer-2 and sidechain solutions are one of the most common ways to cut gas expenses. Polygon, for example, processes more than three million transactions every day and has hundreds of millions of addresses.

Solutions For The Second Layer

Will layer-2 solutions like Optimism, Boba Network, Arbitrum One, and Polygon continue to exist after The Merge? We chatted with a number of web3 creators to get their take on the biggest event in crypto history.

Layer-2 networks are built on top of the Ethereum network (also known as Layer-1). Layer-2 protocols come in a variety of flavors. In essence, layer-2s execute transactions independently to finish more transactions per second with reduced gas rates, and the transactions are later registered in the Ethereum blockchain.

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The necessity for layer-2s will be lessened if Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake meets its goal of addressing gas fees and transaction volume. Furthermore, switching to proof-of-stake has the ability to improve the network’s security mechanism. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, stated that proof-of-stake provides:

Their ability to handle and recover from strikes has improved, as has their efficiency. Layer-2s may benefit from Ethereum’s greater efficiency. According to Alan Chiu, CEO and Founder of Boba Network, a Layer 2 Optimistic Rollup scaling solution, As Ethereum L1 becomes more efficient, L2s will simply become even more efficient, all while preserving their existing added benefits.

As Harold Hyatt, Trusttoken’s Product Manager of DAO & DeFi, explains: Scaling solutions based on Ethereum (L2) scale with Ethereum, therefore if Ethereum scales in the future (sharding), L2s will scale as well. If Optimism is 10 times faster than L1, Ethereum will be 10 times quicker after sharding, and Optimism will be 100 times faster.

Solutions For Post Merger Scaling

Even after the merge, to actually get to mainstream usage, we will need as many scaling solutions as possible, says Ahmed Al-Balaghi, the co-founder of Biconomy, a multichain relayer protocol. Even with cryptocurrency’s rising popularity since 2020, mainstream acceptance is still a long way off, with only 4% of the population possessing cryptocurrency in 2022.

The demand for networks like Ethereum will increase exponentially as adoption grows. Poapster, a contributor to Harvest Finance, a leading DeFi yield farming technology, is optimistic about the future. We will see Ethereum becoming the universal settlement layer, with the majority of smaller transactions taking place on all of the other L2’s and EVM compatible chains.

Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while his post-graduation. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing along with being a developer. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing