According to Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, the network is poised to reach 100,000 transactions per second. This ambitious goal is outlined in a recent blog post detailing 'The Surge', the next phase of Ethereum's Denecun upgrade. Buterin's strategy, known as the rollup-centric roadmap, combines Layer 2 scaling solutions with advanced data availability sampling and compression techniques to achieve this target.
The proposed approach divides labor between Ethereum's Layer 1, focusing on being a robust and decentralized base layer, and Layer 2 solutions, which will drive ecosystem scalability. Buterin draws an analogy with the court system, where the base layer (L1) prioritizes protecting contracts and property rights, while entrepreneurs (L2) build upon this foundation. He argues against simply increasing Ethereum's gas limit, as this would lead to increased centralization due to the need for costly hardware, resulting in fewer validators. Instead, Buterin suggests exploring cost-optimized gas fees and introducing an efficient bytecode format, Ethereum Object Format (EOF).
Additionally, he addresses the issue of friction between Layer 2 solutions, which currently feel like isolated ecosystems. Buterin envisions Ethereum as a unified ecosystem, rather than multiple separate blockchains, and proposes standardizing chain identifiers and improving cross-L2 standards to streamline interactions. He shares a personal anecdote of losing $100 on Polymarket due to selecting the wrong chain, highlighting the need for a more cohesive user experience across the L2 ecosystem.