Vitalik buterin questions ethereum’s L2 “branded shards” vision as L1 scaling accelerates

A core Ethereum scaling assumption is being re-litigated: if Ethereum’s base layer can expand capacity faster than expected, layer-2s may need to justify themselves less as “capacity providers” and more by other roles (e.g., different trust models, features, or user experiences). In this framing, Vitalik Buterin is warning that the ecosystem’s earlier “L2s as branded shards” vision no longer fits current conditions, pushing a roadmap rethink as L1 throughput and gas-limit ambitions rise.