Gnosis founder argues Ethereum needs native L2s

Martin Köppelmann outlines a proposal for Ethereum-native rollups, emphasizing security, scalability, and a stronger connection to the Ethereum ecosystem

article-image

Shizume/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

This is a segment from the 0xResearch newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


Devcon Bangkok is seeing a lot of debates about Ethereum’s future. The latest keynote on the topic was Martin Koeppelmann of Gnosis, who spoke Friday on the event’s main stage.

Wearing a Tornado Cash t-shirt, Koeppelmann challenged the status quo of layer-2 rollups, proposing that Ethereum should instead develop and deploy its own zk-proven rollups.

Koeppelmann emphasized the limitations of existing rollups such as Base, which he argued are bringing users not to Ethereum but to corporate-controlled platforms.

“I have the highest respect for Jesse [Pollack] and Coinbase,” he remarked, “but bringing people to those L2 ecosystems is quite different from being on Ethereum.” He warned of the potential for shareholder-driven decisions — like the introduction of additional fees in the future — that could undermine the Ethereum ethos.

A central critique was the marketing claim that rollups “inherit Ethereum’s security.” While possible in principle, Koeppelmann noted that none of them does in practice.

He illustrated vulnerabilities such as central sequencers’ ability to censor withdrawals or manipulate state in DeFi platforms like Aave, as articulated in a Devcon talk by James Prestwhich. Moreover, he noted that most assets on rollups are native to those chains, not subject to Ethereum’s security guarantees.

What would native L2’s look like?

Koeppelmann envisioned 128 identical interoperable native L2s, rigorously built with Ethereum’s high standards — no multisigs, multiple client implementations, and community scrutiny.

The number is a bit arbitrary, but “the idea is to make it clear that building on Ethereum is a long-term viable option,” he explained, with a goal to achieve a “100x increase in effective block space” over the next two years.

These rollups would maintain strong composability with Ethereum while addressing scalability, cost, and user adoption for billions of users.

Key to his proposal is integrating these rollups into Ethereum’s economic framework. For instance, Ethereum validator rewards could incentivize proof correctness, enhancing security and aligning rollups with Ethereum’s values.

Developers would have the option to build directly “on Ethereum” rather than on external ecosystems, with the choice of a specific rollup dependent on the dapp’s needs.

“If there are other applications you want to regularly interact with [on a specific rollup], then it would be wise to choose that rollup.” However, for developers requiring only Ethereum mainnet connectivity, “you should just choose the rollup that is used the least, because that will be the cheapest.”

He also called for distinct namespaces to prevent address collisions across these L2s, improving cross-chain clarity.

Koeppelmann concluded by urging the Ethereum community to act decisively. Without native L2s, he warned, Ethereum’s role could diminish: “The connection between rollups and Ethereum becomes a meme.” 

Conversely, embracing native rollups could position Ethereum as “the most important economic zone in the world.”

Ethereum stands at this crossroads, Koeppelmann said, as he challenged the broad community to rethink scalability and governance while staying true to its decentralized ideals.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (10).png

Research

Innovations on Aptos’ technical design through Raptr, Shardines, and Zaptos approach near-optimal latency and throughput by unlocking 100% utilization of network resources, with the capacity to settle 260k transactions per second with latencies less than 800ms. The original Move language was revamped with the launch of Move 2, supporting more expressivity in smart contract logic and a scalable ability to interact with high volume datasets. The ecosystem has benefitted from strong asset inflows, now hosting over $1.3B in stablecoins, $450M in bridged BTC, and $530M in RWAs. Activity in the Aptos ecosystem has grown notably over the past year, with monthly application revenue reaching ~$835k and monthly DEX volumes growing to over $5B, both at new all time highs.

article-image

Interchain Labs will focus on sovereign L1s and institutional demand, abandoning plans for smart contracts on the Cosmos Hub

article-image

Also, only three tokens have outperformed bitcoin so far this year: XMR, HYPE and SKY

article-image

The fund group has submitted proposals in recent months for other funds that would hold litecoin, solana, XRP, HBAR, Sui and others

article-image

Momentum’s back — BTC leads, risk assets follow

article-image

Ondo Finance’s acquisition of blockchain development company Strangelove follows its buy of Oasis Pro

article-image

Cryptocurrency and stock traders alike had a lot to unpack Wednesday