Ethereum Co-Founder Opposes Layer-2 Fees, Citing Long-Term Value

Ye Zhang, the co-founder of Ethereum layer-2 network Scroll, has expressed strong opposition to the idea of imposing fees on layer-2 networks, arguing that such a move would be detrimental to Ethereum’s long-term vision and values. In a detailed social media post on April 2, Zhang described the proposal as a “toxic” approach that prioritizes short-term revenue gains over the lasting value of the ecosystem.

Zhang emphasized that Ethereum’s true strength lies not in extracting fees from rollups but in establishing ETH as the central asset across multiple Layer-2 (L2) ecosystems. He argued that taxing these networks would mirror corporate behavior and contradict the principles of decentralization that Ethereum was founded upon. According to Zhang, Ethereum’s value should be measured by its role as an economic foundation for a growing rollup-centric ecosystem, rather than by protocol income.

He noted that ETH’s advantage is its presence across major L2 platforms such as Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync, and Scroll. Even on networks like StarkNet, which do not use ETH for gas, ETH remains a key trading pair on decentralized exchanges. Zhang outlined two possible future scenarios for Ethereum. In one scenario, ETH evolves into a trusted store of value and a central hub for rollup activity, with every aligned L2 expanding Ethereum’s surface area and social consensus. In this vision, a thousand scalable rollups with ETH at the center would be more valuable than any monolithic chain.

On the other hand, if Ethereum were to focus on taxing L2 activity, it could drive these networks toward alternative data availability layers, thereby reducing ETH’s influence in the broader blockchain landscape. To avoid this, Zhang urged the community to focus on scaling execution and improving data availability infrastructure. He called for a 1000x improvement in blob capacity and encouraged the development of shared tools like cross-rollup liquidity bridges and interoperability solutions. Zhang concluded that ETH wins by being the gravity, not the toll booth, emphasizing the importance of Ethereum’s role as a central hub rather than a fee-collecting entity.