As Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin questioned the Layer 2 scaling model, major Layer 2 developers have moved to rebut the criticism, Cointelegraph reported on Tuesday.

Buterin said Layer 2 can no longer be central to scaling Ethereum, pointing to reliance on multisig bridges and security issues. In response, Layer 2 developers including Optimism, Arbitrum and Base each issued their positions.

Optimism Foundation co-founder Karl Floersch (칼 플로어쉬) said on X, formerly Twitter, that developing a modular Layer 2 stack is key. He stressed that Ethereum-native precompiles are needed to address withdrawal delays and security problems.

Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder (스티븐 골드페더), the developer of Arbitrum, countered that Layer 2 is not a service for Ethereum but an independent scaling solution. He said Layer 2 would still be important even if the Ethereum mainnet scales.

Goldfeder added that without Layer 2, companies would be more likely to build their own Layer 1. He also said Ethereum processed far fewer transactions while Arbitrum and Base handled more than 1,000 TPS.

Base development lead Jesse Pollak (제시 폴락) also said that scaling Ethereum Layer 1 is a win for the entire ecosystem, but Layer 2 should not simply become cheaper Ethereum. He said it would strengthen app differentiation, account abstraction and privacy features.

StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson (엘리 벤-사손) briefly mentioned that StarkNet is already playing the role of a specialised Layer 2 that Vitalik has proposed, indirectly rebutting Vitalik's argument.