Developers from Gnosis and Zisk, with backing from the Ethereum Foundation, have proposed a new “Ethereum Economic Zone” framework. The proposal aims to unify Ethereum’s fragmented layer-2 ecosystem by enabling rollups to interact seamlessly with each other and the mainnet in a single transaction, targeting a key trade-off in the network’s scaling strategy.
Developers from Gnosis and Zisk, with support from the Ethereum Foundation, have proposed a new “Ethereum Economic Zone” framework. This initiative aims to allow smart contracts on different rollups to execute synchronously across networks without relying on bridges.
The proposal targets a core issue where dozens of layer-2 networks have improved throughput but split liquidity and user activity. If implemented, it would let applications share infrastructure across rollups while settling back to Ethereum.
Technical details and performance benchmarks are expected in the coming weeks. The proposal also introduces an “EEZ Alliance” to coordinate standards and support adoption.
The initiative arrives amid ongoing debate within the Ethereum community over its rollup-centric roadmap. Data from L2BEAT shows more than 20 active layer-2 networks securing nearly $40 billion in total value.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has raised concerns about the design of some layer-2 networks. “The original vision of L2s and their role in Ethereum no longer makes sense, and we need a new path,” Buterin stated in a February social media post.
Layer-2 builders offered mixed reactions to these comments. Karl Floersch, co-founder of Optimism, acknowledged that L2s must evolve, while Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, argued scaling remains a core function.
