Solana's co-founder questions layer-2s' significance, raises doubts

Anatoly Yakovenko, a co-founder of Solana, has questioned the necessity of layer-2 solutions, asserting that a well-optimized layer-1 can adequately fulfill speed, cost, and security demands.

The argument started when rip.eth posted on an unspecified platform that there is "no reason to build a L1" because layer-2s provide superior speed, security, and cost efficiency without necessitating new consensus mechanisms. As an illustration of an optimized scaling strategy, he mentioned Eclipse, an Ethereum (ETH) layer-2 that employs the Solana (SOL) Virtual Machine.

Responding to this comment, Yakovenko contended that a properly optimized layer-1 can be more secure, faster, and less costly, disputing the notion that layer-2s are the ultimate scaling solution. He pointed out that layer-2s often introduce security risks through fraud proofs and multisigs and rely on a sluggish data availability layer.

When asked about blockchain data limitations, he brushed aside concerns, stating that Solana produces around 80TB of data per year, an amount too small to create a business around but too large for an individual to store easily. Regarding storage, he clarified that Solana's ledger is distinct from its state and can be transferred to decentralized storage providers like Filecoin.

Yakovenko's viewpoints differ significantly from those of Joseph Lubin, a co-founder of Ethereum, who considers layer-2s essential for scaling. At the recent Digital Asset Summit, Lubin argued that Ethereum is the best platform for rollups due to its security. He reiterated his belief that Ethereum's future lies in layer-2 expansion.

Despite Yakovenko's skepticism, layer-2s are already emerging on Solana. Solaxy, a new scaling solution that raised $19 million in February, processes transactions off-chain before settling them on Solana's mainnet to alleviate congestion.

The need for a layer-2 like Solaxy arises from the rapid expansion of decentralized finance and memecoins on Solana, which has taxed the network's capacity and occasionally caused outages.

Although the upcoming Firedancer upgrade is expected to boost Solana's throughput to one million transactions per second, congestion remains an issue. Some developers believe that to avoid congestion and ensure long-term scalability, layer-2 solutions will still be necessary.