• Yakovenko questioned Ethereum’s L2 security, warning of complex, unauditable code risks.
• He said Ethereum’s L2s don’t inherit base-layer security, sparking heated debate.
• Experts remain split as Ethereum’s rapid L2 growth divides opinion on scalability.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko fired off a storm in the crypto world Sunday when he tweeted to question the security and decentralization of Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling networks. He said such networks have a large attack surface and codebases that are too complex to be audited correctly. Yakovenko cautioned that funds could be transferred without permission due to multisignature custody.

He dismissed the notion that Ethereum’s layer-2 networks would benefit from the security of Ethereum’s base layer. “It’s wrong no matter how you slice it,” Yakovenko said during the debate. He said wormhole ETH on Solana carries the same risks as ETH on Base, with both earning money for Ethereum’s main network.

Layer-2 Growth Fuels Debate

His remarks sparked fresh controversy over ETH’s plans to scale. In a layer 2 world, ETH developers and investors are split on whether this development path will strengthen or weaken the platform’s core ecosystem. To some, they are seen as crucial to achieving scale. Others think they add complexity to the network and divide its liquidity.

Also Read: Ethereum Whales Regain Confidence After $1.36M ETH Sell-Off

ETH is now live with 129 verified layer-2 networks, with an additional 29 in the queue for review, according to data from L2Beat. This number has grown quickly, indicating the increasing attention to off-chain scalability solutions. But not everyone in the industry sees this growth as a good thing.

Source: L2Beat

According to Adrian Brink, co-founder of the Anoma blockchain protocol, the industry has ten times more layer-2 networks than it needs. He cautioned that too much duplication could lead to inefficiencies and confusion. Igor Mandrigin, co-founder of Gateway. fm, disagreed. Diversity is good for ETH and a sign that the ecosystem is growing healthily, he said.

According to Anurag Arjun, the co-founder of Avail and the layer-2 solution for Polygon, every Ethereum L2 is, in essence, a high-throughput chain. He added that there is an increasing number of multiple-layer-2 options out there, and people have more freedom to choose and scale. But not everyone sees it as a benefit.

L2 Growth Cuts Into Ethereum’s Profits

Binance Research revealed that this rapid spread of the networks is draining ETH’s revenue base. Lower L2 fees pull people off the main chain, and just do less damage to ETH in terms of the earnings on gas. The research also stated that liquidity is broken and makes the network more inefficient.

Ethereum and Solana have behaved very similarly over the last year. ETH rose 15.45%, and Solana was up 7.39%. In both cases, there were midyear rallies that lost steam in September, followed by a slow recovery heading into late October. The trends indicate that competition and sentiment across the two blockchain platforms continue to be intertwined.

Source: TradingView

The comments by Yakovenko were shared following an increased attention on ETH’s scaling journey. His worries mirror a persistent one in the blockchain world — whether layer-2s are a direction for innovation or an increasingly untested path that threatens security. The success of ETH has drawn thousands of developers, but the complexity of the network continues to present new challenges.

The Solana-versus-Ethereum debate is about more than just competition. It’s a small example of the broader tension in blockchain design between speed, cost, and decentralization. The way in which they navigate these trade-offs as both ecosystems continue to evolve may form the next chapter in crypto development globally.

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