According to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, the leading blockchain is not ready for direct mass adoption at the moment. Buterin says that the high gas fees on Ethereum Layer 1 make the network incapable of facilitating daily transactions. As he put it:
“Ethereum today, the Layer 1, is not a system that is ready for direct mass adoption.”
Calling for sustainable scaling solutions of the network, Buterin also stressed the need to reduce transaction fees. In particular, the Ethereum co-founder stated that the Layer 2 scaling solutions had to incorporate this into its makeup. This is because the exorbitant gas fees are still a major talking point of the Ethereum blockchain, despite 2021’s milestones.
Buterin also doubled down on his advocacy for lower transaction fees on the “internet of money.” Speaking to Bankless co-host Ryan Sean Adams who questioned the Ethereum co-founder over perceived contradictory views made in 2017, Buterin said:
“In order for blockchains to be something that people are going to adopt for mainstream applications, it has to be cheap.”
Presently, numerous projects such as Offchain Labs’ Arbitrum, and StarkWare’s StarkEx are striving for more Ethereum scalability on Layer 2. Furthermore, they also aim to substantially reduce transaction costs through rollups solutions.
Even though it is still a trailblazing blockchain, Ethereum has recently come under criticism for its slow development times.
