Scaling the Ethereum ecosystem has moved from theory to real production-grade infrastructure. Optimistic rollups, ZK rollups, major layer 1 upgrades such as The Merge and The Dencun upgrade (EIP-4844), and other layer 2 scaling solutions helped transform Ethereum from a crowded base layer to the core of a rapidly growing multilayer ecosystem.
The question is no longer whether Ethereum can scale, but what kind of scaling will be implemented next. Which implementations will impact where developers build? How will rollup economics impact on-chain liquidity and value flows?
Let’s take a look at some key predictions that will accelerate Layer 2 adoption and define the next wave of Ethereum scaling in 2026.
Why 2026 is a critical year for scaling Ethereum
L2 adoption will rapidly increase from 2023 to 2025
The total value of locked Layer 2 has increased sharply since 2023. At the time, L2 was worth a total of just under $4 billion. By October 2025, that amount had increased to approximately $47 billion. Daily transactions on L2 followed suit, surpassing Ethereum’s mainnet with 1.9 million transactions per day in 2025.
The trends observed between 2023 and 2025 tell us that major changes are afoot. Developers and users are increasingly turning to L2 for high-throughput use cases.
Ethereum hits mainstream payments and consumer applications
From 2024 to 2025, Ethereum L2 experienced a proliferation of real-world use cases, with Base emerging as Coinbase’s consumer-focused rollup and becoming the dominant network for Farcaster and lightweight SocialFi experiences.
Similarly, game studios such as Atari, Lotte Group, Nexon, and Sky Mavis are adopting app-specific chains to reduce fees and improve execution performance. This isn’t limited to game studios. Prediction markets, stablecoin payments, and tokenized real-world assets are also finding a sustainable home in rollups, and gas costs are no longer a deterrent to experimentation.
bottleneck
Even though the growth of Layer 2 solutions has increased transaction speeds and reduced costs, certain scaling bottlenecks remain, such as data availability (DA), bridging efficiency, and price fragmentation. The process of storing the data needed to validate a transaction is expensive compared to its execution, creating a scenario where many people are looking for a cheaper data availability layer.
Similarly, moving liquidity through layer 2 bridges can often incur delays or require special trust in third-party providers, which can complicate the process and expose users to risks.
Have you ever heard of the same asset like ETH, BTC, USDT existing on different chains and the price fluctuating? That’s liquidity fragmentation. This is a phenomenon that reduces capital efficiency, spreads liquidity thinly, and increases slippage, often forcing users to jump from one network to another in search of the best price.
These bottlenecks form the background for key forecasts going forward.
Layer 2 current state
Total L2 TVL
According to data from L2BEATtotal L2 TVL at the beginning of 2025 was approximately $44 billion. The peak in October was $49 billion, and in December it was about $38 billion. Arbitrum One leads with around 44% of the total L2 value locked, followed by Base Chain with 33%, OP Mainnet with 6%, and Lighter with 3.5%.
The remaining TVL is distributed across ZKsync Era and emerging chains such as Linea, Ink, Katana, and Starknet. Collectively, these networks support millions of daily active users.
The rise of consumer app chains
Consumer-focused app chains are emerging. They are designed and optimized around user experience rather than strict decentralization tradeoffs. Ethereum L2 such as Base, Mantle, Blast, and Linea focus on simplified onboarding, low fees, and fast finality. Base in particular has become a general purpose consumer chain and a soft entry point for non-crypto users. Leverage Coinbase’s infrastructure and seamlessly integrate with over 100 million users.
Extending the modular L2 ecosystem
As rollups expand, the theory of modular blockchains gains traction, emphasizing the separation of execution, settlement, and data availability. A dedicated DA layer emerged as Rollup sought an alternative to Ethereum’s limited and expensive DA capacity. The first dedicated data availability blockchain, Celestia offers significantly lower costs than Ethereum by focusing solely on DA and leveraging data availability sampling.
EigenDA takes a different approach to the problem by using Ethereum re-staking to create a scalable DA layer secured by economic guarantees rather than native execution. This model allows for a more flexible DA marketplace while maintaining close alignment with Ethereum’s security premises.
By 2025, additional DA solutions such as Near DA and Avail expanded the ecosystem, providing rollups with a menu of DA options optimized for low cost, high throughput, and various trust tradeoffs.
Starknet and zkSync progress
Zero-knowledge rollups have matured significantly. Starknet increased throughput with Volition, Cairo optimizations, and compression proofing. It has also been proven production-ready for complex applications such as decentralized exchanges and games. Similarly, zkSync has been extended with Hyperchain to process more than 100 transactions per second for less than a few cents, allowing you to deploy L3 networks with a customizable execution environment.
OP Superchain vision development
Superchain is Optimism’s long-term vision to create a network of OP Stack blockchains that are connected, interoperable, and share standards, infrastructure, and governance. The idea is to have multiple isolated chains behave like a single ecosystem. Networks like Base, Zora, Frax, and Mode are part of an evolving ecosystem. Additionally, developers can now build rollups that are compatible with Superchain standards.
It is important to note that not all OP stack chains are fully integrated with all superchain features. Many are in various stages and not yet configured for messaging or sharing sequences. Also, some interoperability features are not yet fully realized. By 2026, this vision is likely to converge to even more practical interoperability.
Prediction #1 — ZK rollups will become the default for high-value trades.
Reduced certification costs
By design, zero-knowledge rollups provide better privacy, security, and faster finality compared to optimistic rollups. However, the proof with ZK rollup is complex and computationally expensive. This means that ZK rollups are not currently an economically viable option for small-value transfers or high-frequency consumer transactions. That being said, some implementations are already underway to reduce the cost of ZK.
This includes a decentralized proof marketplace, improved algorithms to reduce compute per transaction, a move to hardware acceleration (GPU, FPGA, ASIC), and parallelized proofs that split proof generation across multiple machines. Additionally, major structural unlocks such as recursive ZK proofs are in progress.
Full implementation of these approaches by 2026 is expected to narrow the cost gap and make ZK rollups economically competitive in a wide range of applications, including low-value, high-throughput transactions.
Faster finality
Optimistic Rollup (OR), by design, relies on fraud prevention systems that assume transaction validity and have a seven-day dispute period. Although this execution seems easy and cheap, finality takes a long time and withdrawals are also delayed. ZK rollups, on the other hand, offer instant finality and quick withdrawals, although they are currently more computationally expensive. However, the speed of finality afforded by ZK rollups is a competitive advantage, especially for institutional payments, cross-chain transfers, and high-value DeFi operations.
zkEVM maturity
Multiple zkEVM implementations are expected to reach production maturity in 2026, and the execution gap between zkEVM and native EVM chains is expected to further narrow.
Scroll matures into a stable, production-ready zkEVM with strong developer mindshare. Polygon zkEVM is deeply integrated with the Polygon AggLayer architecture. zkSync Era runs robust L2 while extending your L3 deployment.
Institutional adoption of ZK-based L2
zero knowledge layer 2 Scaling solutions provide security, privacy, payment certainty, proof-based auditability, and reduced bridging risk. Agencies that prioritize these features will increasingly look to zk-based systems. Large banks, mainstream payment processors, and even wealth management companies fall into this category and are likely to take decisive steps to build their core applications on top of Zk-based Layer 2.
Prediction #2 — Significant increase in L3 and app-specific rollups
Why apps prefer to own the full stack
By 2026, many successful decentralized applications will launch their own app-specific layer 3 to “own the full stack.” Simply put, “owning the full stack” means that the application has direct control over pricing and performance and is not dependent on a shared layer 2.
They can abstract or subsidize gas, use stablecoins or custom tokens for payments, insulate from network congestion, and collect all sequencer fees. For high-volume applications such as games, prediction markets, and decentralized social protocols, consider moving to OP Stack L3 or Arbitrum Orbit.
On-chain gaming L3, DeFi-specific rollup
Layer 3 is commonly understood as an app-specific rollup that sits on top of L2. These allow developers to make certain changes to the execution environment, adjust pricing models, and tune performance. All of these are ideal for use cases that require extreme throughput, predictable execution, and custom logic.
For example, on-chain massively multiplayer role-playing video games and MMORPGs require frequent microinteractions and perform thousands of state updates every second. Layer 3 can efficiently batch and optimize these actions. However, on general-purpose L2, such workloads suffer from network congestion, fluctuating pricing, and contention for block space.
Similarly, high-performance DeFi protocols such as RFQ systems, options, and permanent exchanges have needs that are not currently optimized for typical Layer 2 networks, but can be facilitated by L3. These needs include predictable execution, flexible liquidation logic, more control over transaction order, and the ability to capture MEV internally.
Arbitrum Orbit, OP stack, zkSync hyperchain
Arbitrum Orbit allows developers to create customized chains that settle on Arbitrum and inherit its security and tools. OP Stack has already powered dozens of chains beyond Optimism itself, enabling networks like Base to quickly emerge and scale rapidly. The zkSync hyperchain provides a ZK-powered path to deploy app-specific rollups with strong security guarantees.
Together, these frameworks reduce the complexity of launching a new chain. By 2026, the roll-up launch will bring us closer to simplifying the adoption of smart contracts, potentially sparking an explosion of specialized chains built for DeFi, gaming, RWA, AI agents, high-speed trading, and more.
EVM standardization for L3 development
As new Layer 3 networks emerge, networks that are already compliant with EVM standards are likely to remain compatible with existing developer and user tools. This allows developers to use Vyper or Robustness Smart contracts without the need to rewrite code. You can use your existing tool stacks such as MetaMask, Foundry, and The Graph, and rely on familiar workflows.
For users, this simply means that the same wallet works across chains, transactions are familiar, and there is no steep learning curve each time you try a new network.
By reducing development and adoption barriers, the standardization of Layer 3 Ethereum virtual machines increases the likelihood that Layer 3 will scale and smoothly integrate into the broader Ethereum environment.
Prediction #3 — The data availability wars will intensify
Celestia vs EigenDA vs Ethereum dunk sharding
By 2026, data availability could become a competitive market. Celestia is expected to gain traction as it is preferred for gaming L3 due to its low cost and modular data availability. On the other hand, EigenDA’s competitive advantage is its security guarantee in conjunction with Ethereum through re-staking.
Meanwhile, Ethereum’s dunk sharding roadmap continues to add DA capacity, which reduces costs while maintaining Ethereum’s security. The result is a multi-tier DA environment where rollups select DA solutions based on specific cost, security, and performance requirements, rather than relying on a single provider.
Cost differences drive L2 migration
Data availability accounts for 90% of L2 operational costs starting with EIP-4844. We expect rollups to increasingly select DA layers based on economics rather than ideology. In other words:
Lower DA costs = lower rollup charges = more users.
This marks the first major migration between DA providers.
DA becomes the new scaling bottleneck
For rollups, we expect fees to decrease in 2026 as batch processing improves and execution becomes more cost-effective. This means more rollups will be posted back. Ethereum. What is the result? Ethereum’s data availability (DA) is finite and expensive, so block space is quickly exhausted. Therefore, DA becomes a new bottleneck that limits the efficiency of rollup operations. This constraint drives innovation towards better data compression and validation schemes that minimize DA requirements.
Modular blockchain evolves into DA marketplace
By late 2026, data availability will no longer behave like a static service and more like a cloud computing marketplace. There will be variable demand-based pricing, competing fee schedules, and varying latency, reliability, and security profiles. And what does it mean? Rollup allows developers to choose a DA provider in the same way they choose between AWS, Google Cloud, and Cloudflare based on cost, performance, and reliability.
Prediction #4 — The superchain/unified liquidity vision will become a reality
OP superchain runs across multiple chains
Superchain is Optimism’s vision of having many independent L2 chains operate as a coordinated system. Layer 2 networks such as Mode, Base, Metal, and OP Mainnet are built on top of the OP stack. This means that core components such as messaging, execution, and upgrades are standardized across the board.
The fact that shared standards exist means that these chains can coordinate governance decisions, adopt a common interoperability layer, and eventually move to a shared security and sequencing model. As this coordination improves, we expect cross-chain liquidity to deepen and bridges to become less visible to users.
By 2026, shared sequences could enable atomic actions across multiple chains within a single transaction flow. Users can swap in Base, add liquidity in Optimism, and open positions in Mode, with all steps succeeding or reversing simultaneously. This will restore Ethereum’s sense of synchronization across the superchain and eliminate the fragmentation that was slowing down the multichain. DeFi.
Reduced liquidity fragmentation
The biggest user experience failure in 2024-2025 was fragmentation. Users have ETH in Base, but cannot purchase NFTs in Optimism without bridging. Using a shared architecture similar to the OP superchain, liquidity is pooled across member chains. Market makers can deploy capital once to service multiple networks, while traders benefit from a unified order book no matter which chain they belong to.
Coinbase/Base plays a key role
Base is expected to become the most widely used Layer 2 solution by 2026. Powered by Coinbase, its large user base and strong compliance profile make it the largest onboarding funnel into the Ethereum ecosystem. Base will also gain significant influence in the superchain’s governance and become a major hub for regulated consumer applications. As millions of new users enter through Coinbase, Base’s role in shaping the broader L2 environment will become even more dominant.
Prediction #5 — AI agents will drive on-chain activity at scale
Autonomous agents using L2 for microtransactions
Layer 2 prices continue to fall, making it an ideal rail for autonomous agents. Machine-operated systems can perform continuous microtransactions, pay for APIs, purchase model outputs, validate calculations, and coordinate with other agents without human intervention. With its cheap, permissionless payments and verifiable execution, L2 will emerge as the default economic layer for large multi-agent networks.
zk rollup becomes AI preferred rail
AI systems require verifiable outcomes, privacy-preserving interactions, deterministic resolution, and predictable costs. ZK roll up It offers all these benefits, making it an ideal environment for autonomous agents. As AI-driven applications continue to grow, ZK-based networks will become the preferred execution layer for machine-to-machine transactions and verifiable computing.
AI-to-AI settlement and reconciliation system
Interactions between autonomous software agents, especially in aspects of on-chain transactions, market making, and trading, are already underway in today’s decentralized financial systems. These AI-to-AI interactions are increasingly expanding beyond transactions to include participation in governance and payment for access to data and models, all without continuous human input. What is currently driving this type of interaction? Factors such as fast settlement, programmable execution, and low fees. These requirements are clearly within the capabilities of a Layer 2 network.
By 2026, AI-to-AI payment and reconciliation systems are expected to further expand. We expect an increasing proportion of on-chain activity to be handled by autonomous systems acting on behalf of users, organizations, and protocols.
Early examples: Autonolas, Fetch.ai, Ritual
Projects such as Autonolas, Fetch.ai, Grass, and Ritual represent the early building blocks of machine-to-machine coordination on the blockchain. For example, Autonolas or Olas is a decentralized platform that facilitates building, deploying, and managing automated software entities known as dApps, DAOs, and automated agents for off-chain services.
fetch eye It also creates a network of autonomous economic agents that can negotiate, trade, and optimize outcomes across markets such as finance, supply chains, and energy. Ritual, on the other hand, focuses on bringing verifiable AI inference on-chain so that smart contracts can trust the output of artificial intelligence models without the need for off-chain processes.
These systems are still evolving, but collectively they highlight the growing trend of blockchain becoming the coordination and settlement layer for AI systems. We will see more of this in 2026.
Prediction #6 — Consumer L2 will explode
Farcaster Frame + Base Ecosystem
Farcaster frames are interactive components embedded in Farcaster posts. Farcaster itself is a decentralized social network. And what about the base? This is a major consumer-centric Layer 2 network. So what’s the link?
Farcaster frames can host a variety of mini-applications such as quizzes, polls, and live game and product updates. Beyond these, Frames also has the ability to integrate Web3 functionality directly into social feeds, allowing users to mint NFTs, tip creators, check for airdrops, and make cryptocurrency payments within the same UI.
To scale this model, the underlying network must be cheap, fast, and reliable. There it is base This makes Farcaster’s in-feed actions feel instant and seamless. Users can seamlessly transition between social actions and on-chain transactions without the complexity of blockchain.
Markets can expect to see more of this kind of integration blurring the lines between financial activities and social interactions in 2026.
On-chain gaming using AppChain/L3
Games built entirely on-chain require more throughput than general-purpose layer 2 currently provides. Elements that require real-time processing, such as game state updates, player actions, and asset transfers, often place stress on shared networks. Application-specific L3 solves this problem by giving each game its own dedicated block space, allowing developers to customize execution and subsidize player fees.
In 2026, on-chain games are expected to run on proprietary appchains/L3 built specifically for fast, deeply interactive gameplay.
Near-zero cost L2 attracts mobile users
Layer 2 charges are expected to approach zero in 2026. What does this mean for mobile users? Complex on-chain actions will become more affordable, further pushing L2 to become the default platform for global mobile adoption. Advances in compression, proof systems, and sequences will make social interactions, tipping, loyalty rewards, and micropayments commonplace on-chain activities.
UX improvements for non-crypto users
The goal is to allow users to interact with L2 apps without knowing the meaning of seed phrases or gas prices. In 2026, improvements will be made to account abstraction, embedded wallets, and the introduction of fiat currencies, making the user experience for layer 2 apps simpler and more intuitive, similar to typical Web2 apps, with seamless login and instant actions.
Prediction #7 — Ethereum will become a payment layer, not a user layer.
Fully realized rollup-centric roadmap
If Vitalik Buterin’s rollup-centric vision approaches full-scale realization in 2026, daily user activity will continue to be the base layer of security, DA, and payments on the Ethereum mainnet. layer 2 network. This clear separation allows each layer to operate more efficiently. Ethereum’s mainnet serves as the payment layer, while L2 provides a fast and low-cost experience.
99% of user activity moves to L2
As it continues to surpass Ethereum’s mainnet in terms of transactions, users, and developer adoption, nearly all day-to-day activity is expected to migrate to the Layer 2 network. This trend is already evident today and is rapidly accelerating. Using Ethereum L1 directly will be reserved for large-scale payments, important governance decisions, or major protocol upgrades.
That doesn’t mean Ethereum is failing. In fact, it means the opposite. L1 will eventually evolve into a secure foundation for an ecosystem, much like the basic protocols of the Internet, where no one interacts directly.
EIP-4844 integration uses ETH as gas
Although user activity is expected to move completely to Layer 2, this will not replace the role of Ethereum mainnet as the underlying infrastructure. Layer 2 still relies on Ethereum for security and DA. Additionally, transaction data is posted back to Ethereum for settlement, and the execution fee is paid in ETH.
Similarly, validators and sequencers still hold ETH to pay DA fees, send batches, and settle on L1. It doesn’t matter whether the rollup abstracts gas fees, uses a stablecoin, or uses its own token. At its core, it still relies on ETH to operate. This continues to drive demand for ETH at the infrastructure level, making ETH the “reserve asset” of Ethereum’s scaling stack.
Institutions settle on Ethereum and transact on L2
The expected approach is for financial institutions to adopt a split model when using Ethereum. What does this mean? Simply put, everyday operations that are too slow or too expensive for Layer 1, such as internal transfers and small payments, are moved to Layer 2. Meanwhile, final settlement, balancing, storage, and similar high-value activities remain on Ethereum, where finality, decentralization, and security are strongest.
This gives agencies what they want: Layer 1 security, Layer 2 execution, and a predictable compliance framework. The separation of payments in Ethereum and operations in L2 will become the standard architecture for institutional blockchain usage.
Prediction #8 — Layer 2 revenue models will evolve
Sequencer profits increase
The role of the sequencer is to order, bundle, and ensure that transactions are sent to the Layer 2 network. In other words, L2 transactions pass through the sequencer. So essentially, L2 transactions are at the heart of MEV capture and toll collection. Therefore, as Layer 2 adoption accelerates and monthly transaction volumes grow exponentially, sequencers stand to grow their profits.
MEV market is mature
Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) is the additional value that can be obtained by controlling the inclusion, ordering, and exclusion of transactions within a block. This field will be further structured in 2026.
Naturally, new transaction ordering mechanisms and shorter block times provide more MEV opportunities, albeit with the coordination and democratization that platforms prefer. flash bot We’re already doing that.
Stakeholders can expect an open, transparent, and competitive transaction order market driven by cross-chain MEV auctions and shared sequencers. A mature MEV market will ensure that value extraction is well aligned with protocols and users.
Additionally, market openness, transparency, and democratization result in benefits such as fairer fees and, where applicable, rebates to users.
Optimism’s retrospective public goods financing model is expected to spread throughout the L2 ecosystem. More and more networks are giving back a portion of sequencer revenue to builders and rewarding teams based on the impact of their work. This ensures stable funding for open source infrastructure, developer tools, and high-value community projects.
By 2026, several L2s are expected to adopt formal revenue sharing systems that support L3 builders, service providers, and major protocol teams, strengthening the entire ecosystem.
L2 token: transition from “governance” to real cash flow asset
By design, most layer 2 tokens are intended as governance tokens used to decentralize decision-making. However, L2 tokens are expected to serve more than just a governance tool and begin to capture real economic value. Currently, rollups are already generating revenue from DA costs, sequence fees, and MEV, tying native L2 tokens to real cash flow.
By 2026, more networks will implement revenue sharing models, sequencer profit sharing, and revenue tied to actual network usage. There is no doubt that governance will still be important, but cash flow will be a key part of giving L2 tokens long-term value.
Prediction #9 — L2 interoperability will become secure and native
Bridge with minimal trust
One of the drawbacks of early cross-chain bridges that raises major security concerns is their reliance on trusted validators or multisig. This means that users trust a group of operators to confirm their transactions. And if these parties are compromised or act maliciously, the transaction can be at risk.
Minimal trust ZK bridges are changing the narrative, and solutions like Succinct’s Telepathy are already facilitating L2 interoperability by leveraging proofs of validity that cryptographically verify state changes across the chain without the need for a trusted intermediary. This approach is expected to become mainstream as it makes bridging faster, permissionless, more reliable and secure.
cross-chain intent
Intent-based systems like Anoma and Radius are expected to remove the complexity of chain selection and bridging. Instead of telling the network how to perform a transaction, users simply state what they want, such as exchanging tokens at the best price, moving liquidity to the chain with the highest yield, or acquiring a certain amount of funds. USDC At Arbitrum. The solver network then finds the optimal cross-chain route and runs it in the background.
To further the L2 interoperability goal, individual L2s, such as Arbitrum, OP, no longer order transactions, and a shared sequencer coordinates processes across multiple L2s, processing them simultaneously and instantaneously.
On the user side, the wallet displays a single combined balance and consolidated transaction history, and the app automatically routes transactions through the most suitable chain. In reality, users cannot perform complex operations. Everything happens seamlessly in the background.
Prediction #10 — Regulation drives U.S. builders to L2
Base debuts as compliant L2 for US team
Base emerges as the preferred L2 for the US team due to the strong regulatory position and compliance-driven nature of its parent infrastructure, Coinbase. The link between Coinbase and Base means the latter enjoys transaction monitoring, easy onboarding, built-in know-your-customer (KYC) and AML support, and most importantly, a clearly defined legal and operational framework. These are the kinds of features that are well-suited for fintech integration, enterprise deployments, and consumer applications.
Stablecoin payments flow into L2
As the already thriving stablecoin ecosystem gains regulatory clarity in terms of what can be issued and how it can be used, payment companies will be able to move on-chain with confidence, especially Ethereum L2. But why a Layer 2 network? L2’s Ethereum-grade security, near-instant finality, and low fees make it an attractive option.
These are an attractive combination of features for teams that handle high-volume payments, cross-border remittances, and payroll. Daily payments are also essential. USDC and PYUSD The wallet abstracts the complexity of the process (bridges, chain selection, gas fees) while moving between L2 in the background and is expected to complete billions of dollars worth of transactions each month.
What’s slowing Layer 2 adoption?
Security prerequisites for L3
Layer 3 relies on the Layer 2 security architecture upon which it is built. Similarly, Layer 2 relies on the security of the Ethereum (L1) mainnet. Cascading trust models can pose significant security risks. In the event of a critical L2 failure, dependent L3s will be affected as well.
Unified sequencer
Most layer 2 scaling solutions still use a centralized sequencer run by a core team. Centralization comes with risks of censorship, single points of failure, and exposure to regulatory pressure. If meaningful progress toward sequencer decentralization does not occur by 2026, L2’s core value proposition could weaken and limit long-term trust and resilience.
DA layer failure or outage
The data availability layer makes transactional data available through rollups at a reasonable cost. To achieve this, some DA layers rely on a security architecture that is different, or in some cases weaker, than Ethereum’s security architecture. This creates a reliability risk. For example, if a cheap DA experiences a network outage or consensus failure, dependent rollups will experience data fragmentation and an inconsistent final state.
Liquidity fragmentation returns
Five L2s are being launched today, and two L3s will be launched in a few days. While this in itself provides diversity for users, it portends liquidity fragmentation. Funds are spread across multiple networks instead of being concentrated in one place, reducing transaction efficiency and increasing borrowing costs. Even with shared sequences and superchain-style adjustments, incentives can pull capital in different directions, making liquidity fragmentation an ongoing risk.
Ambiguity in US regulations
Cryptocurrency regulation in the United States is often considered vague. why? Multiple state regulators and agencies, from the SEC to the CFTC to the Treasury Department to FinCEN, always have something to say. Additionally, the rules regarding cryptocurrencies in general, layer 2 tokens, and stablecoins remain unclear.
Assessing enforcement risk remains difficult for developers and businesses, creating operational and legal uncertainty. What’s the result? Delays in implementation have forced builders to adapt with compliance-first designs, limit functionality within the U.S., or shift efforts to other jurisdictions with clearer regulatory frameworks.
What will 2026 hold for Ethereum scaling?
Multi-L2 world ruled by Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync
In the coming months, we expect the Ethereum L2 ecosystem to become less fragmented and consolidated around a few dominant players. The first is Base, an L2 strategically positioned as a hub for consumer-centric applications.
Base’s integration with Coinbase and its hundreds of millions of users simplifies cryptocurrency onboarding for non-cryptocurrency users, ensuring access to fiat currencies and regulatory oversight. This is attractive for mainstream applications.
Arbitrum is likely to continue to maintain its foundation as a home for DeFi and gaming due to its rich liquidity, strong developer community, and mature tools. It is also well-known for complex financial applications and high-throughput use cases.
Optimism’s superchain and enterprise rollups are also expected to grow and become the backbone of an interoperable application ecosystem. The fourth, zkSync, anchors ZK-based Layer 2 and Layer 3, leading high-value transactions, institutional use cases, and privacy-sensitive applications.
Ethereum as a global payment, DA + rollup as an execution
Ethereum’s role has evolved into a global payments and data availability layer, securing the billions of transactions that occur on L2. Direct user activity on mainnet will be minimal, and the rollup will handle day-to-day activities such as consumer apps, transactions, payments, games, and AI interactions. This architecture enables massive scale while keeping Ethereum’s core security and decentralization intact.
Millions of daily active users across L2
The number is expected to exceed current levels by 2026, cued by the growth in users and daily transactions observed as of 2025. Ecosystems like Base and Arbitrum will process millions of transactions every day with users participating from all over the world, including DeFi traders in Asia, gamers in Europe, payment users in Latin America, and social media participants around the world.
Rollups become the new app store
Rollups will evolve from just a tool to reduce fees and scale Ethereum to a comprehensive platform that hosts an ecosystem of applications, much like the case with app stores today.
In addition to bundling transactions off-chain and posting them back to layer 1, rollups host decentralized applications, help users discover them, provide built-in tools and liquidity, and handle background execution.
Additionally, as L3 frameworks grow on top of L2 rollups, these networks begin to feel less like single-purpose scaling layers and more like complete application ecosystems with distribution, monetization, and execution coordinated at the platform level.
