A gaggle of Ethereum tasks have introduced a brand new effort geared toward fixing a rising downside in Ethereum: its ecosystem is changing into too fragmented.
Revealed on the EthCC convention in Cannes, the undertaking — referred to as the “Ethereum Economic Zone” (EEZ) — is designed to make Ethereum’s many add-on networks (often known as layer 2s, or L2s) work collectively extra seamlessly.
The framework is being developed by Gnosis, Zisk and the Ethereum Basis. Gnosis is a longtime Ethereum infrastructure developer, whereas Zisk focuses on zero-knowledge proving expertise.
It comes as Ethereum for years relied on L2 networks to scale, although these networks typically function like separate islands. Customers have to maneuver property between them utilizing bridges, which may be gradual, pricey and dangerous, whereas builders typically must rebuild the identical instruments on every community.
The EEZ goals to alter that by making all these networks really feel like one unified system. In easy phrases, it might permit apps and transactions on completely different Ethereum networks to work together immediately — without having bridges — whereas nonetheless counting on Ethereum’s core safety.
The announcement comes as Ethereum’s long-term reliance on L2 scaling has confronted renewed debate. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has lately recommended the ecosystem could have to rethink components of its L2-heavy roadmap, significantly as fragmentation and consumer expertise points persist. The EEZ seems to instantly tackle these considerations by attempting to unify liquidity, infrastructure and consumer flows throughout networks, quite than including extra remoted chains
The thought is to create shared liquidity (so funds can transfer freely), less complicated infrastructure for builders, and a smoother expertise for customers. The system would additionally proceed to make use of ETH as its important token for charges, quite than introducing new ones.
The undertaking is being developed brazenly with enter from the broader Ethereum neighborhood.
“Ethereum doesn’t have a scaling problem. It has a fragmentation problem. Every new L2 is a silo that makes it harder to seamlessly extend and drive value back to the Ethereum mainnet,” mentioned Friederike Ernst, co-founder of Gnosis, in a press launch shared with CoinDesk. “The EEZ is designed to do the opposite.”
Learn extra: From ‘Ethereum’s sidekick’ to standalone stars: How Vitalik Buterin’s newest pivot is forcing Layer 2s to develop up
