Key Points
Marc Boiron, the CEO of Polygon, sparked a heated discussion on the necessity of layer-3 networks for scaling Ethereum. He argued that such networks merely siphon off value from the mainnet.
On the first of April, Boiron stated that Polygon Labs, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network, doesn’t work on layer-3s as they’re not required to scale existing networks. He asserted that layer-3s only exist to shift value from Ethereum to the layer-2 networks they’re built on.
Reactions to Boiron’s Comments
Boiron’s statements were met with resistance. One individual countered that layer-2s on Ethereum actually contribute value to the network. Boiron partially agreed, but added a caveat.
He argued that layer-2 value doesn’t equate to Ethereum value. He suggested that if all layer-3s settled to one layer-2, Ethereum would essentially hold no value, posing a threat to its security.
He further stated that Polygon isn’t concerned with what others do, including building layer-3s on any network, including Polygon’s own. However, he emphasized that they’re not attempting to monopolize all value onto Polygon networks at the expense of Ethereum.
Boiron affirmed that Polygon’s mission was to scale Ethereum when no one else was doing it, using parallelization of the EVM and privacy. He insisted that layer-3s don’t align with this mission.
Layer-3 protocols are built on top of layer-2s to host application-specific DApps, offering solutions for scaling, performance, interoperability, customization, and costs. Current leaders in the layer-3 ecosystem and solutions from layer-2 networks include Orbs, Xai, zkSync Hyperchains, and the recently launched Degen Chain on Arbitrum Orbit. However, the sector remains relatively small, with only four layer-3 tokens listed by CoinGecko.
Peter Haymond, the senior partnership manager at Offchain Labs, argued that layer-3s offer many benefits that don’t detract value from Ethereum. These include the low cost of native bridging from layer-2 rather than layer-1, the low cost of proving on-chain, custom gas tokens, and specialized state transition functions.
Patrick McCorry, a researcher at the Arbitrum Foundation, expressed surprise at Boiron’s stance, stating that layer-3s seem like an obvious choice, especially as they allow the layer-2 to eventually become a settlement layer and rely on Ethereum as a global ordering service and final judge of settlement.
On March 31, Helus Labs CEO, Mert Mumtaz, seemed to echo Boiron’s sentiments in a separate post. He stated that layer-3s are essentially centralized servers settling on other centralized servers (layer-2s) — controlled by multisigs.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sparked the layer-3 debate in late 2022 when he said that layer-3s will serve a different purpose to scaling by providing “customized functionality.” He stated that a third layer on the blockchain makes sense only if it provides a different function to layer-2s.
