Why Ethereum Needs More Gas Even with Layer 2 Solutions - Vitalik Buterin

Ethereum is like a busy road with all cars representing transactions and gas being the fuel needed to move the cars. The recent Ethereum roadmap has been focused on increasing the amount of gas on its main road - or L1 - even tho most are using side roads - L2s - in an attempt to avoid congestion

So in this scenario L2s are express lanes that help speed up transactions and be cheaper - but every now and then you actually need to have the main road for things like making sure your transaction cant be blocked - thats censorship resistance - moving separate items - like NFTs - between these express lanes or safely leaving these lanes in case something goes wrong

Vitalik explained that even during a lot of traffic on L2s there needs to be a wider main road - L1. This is equivalent to higher gas and when you have to use it - for example youre racing against time to sell something before prices go down - you can use it without high fees or lag. Also if everyone needs to exit L2s at the same time L1 needs to be big enough to handle this

Scaling L1 is about supporting more traffic and its about making Ethereum secure, fast and affordable for everyone - even while were using more efficient side streets. So while L2s are useful - scaling L1 keeps the whole system running smoothly

Sources:

• https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/02/14/l1scaling.html
• https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1890381508961014029