The Ethereum Venture group has introduced a brand new initiative geared toward fixing a rising downside with Ethereum: the ecosystem is just too fragmented.
The challenge, unveiled on the EthCC convention in Cannes, is known as the “Ethereum Financial Zone” (EEZ) and is designed to make Ethereum's many add-on networks (generally known as Layer 2 or L2) work collectively extra seamlessly.
This framework is developed by Gnosis, Zisk, and the Ethereum Basis. Whereas Gnosis has been engaged on Ethereum infrastructure for a few years, Zisk focuses on zero-knowledge proof know-how.
Whereas it relied on L2 networks to scale for a few years as Ethereum, these networks typically function like impartial islands. Customers should use bridges to maneuver property between property, which is time consuming, expensive, and dangerous. Alternatively, builders typically should rebuild the identical instruments on every community.
EEZ goals to alter this by making all these networks really feel like one unified system. Merely put, it permits apps and transactions on totally different Ethereum networks to work together immediately, with out the necessity for bridges, whereas counting on Ethereum's core safety.
The announcement comes as Ethereum's long-term reliance on L2 scaling faces renewed debate. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin just lately steered that the ecosystem could must rethink a few of its L2-heavy roadmaps, particularly as fragmentation and person expertise points proceed. EEZ seems to straight deal with these considerations by looking for to unify liquidity, infrastructure, and person flows throughout the community somewhat than including yet one more siled chain.
The thought is to create shared liquidity (so funds can transfer freely), less complicated infrastructure for builders, and a smoother expertise for customers. Moreover, the system will proceed to make use of ETH as the primary token for charges, somewhat than introducing new tokens.
This challenge is being developed overtly with enter from the broader Ethereum neighborhood.
“Ethereum doesn’t have a scaling downside. It has a fragmentation downside. Each new L2 is a silo, making it tough to scale seamlessly and produce worth again to the Ethereum mainnet,” Gnosis co-founder Friederike Ernst mentioned in a press launch shared with CoinDesk. “The EEZ is designed to do the alternative.”
Learn extra: From 'Ethereum sidekick' to standalone star: How Vitalik Buterin's newest pivot is forcing Layer 2 progress
