Polygon Labs CEO Criticizes Layer 3 Networks, Claiming They Devalue Ethereum

Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron has expressed his discontent with layer 3 (L3) networks, saying their existence is taking value away from ethereum.

His statement comes amid growing excitement around L3 networks like Degen Chain, which are built on top of L2s to facilitate application-specific dApps that offer solutions such as scaling, costs and interoperability.

How L3 networks are impacting the value of ethereum

Polygon's CEO wrote in x that Polygon Labs, a layer 2 scaling network for ethereum, does not interact with layers 3 because they are unnecessary for scaling existing networks.

Additionally, he expressed concern that L3 networks could compromise the security and overall value of ethereum. Therefore, if all L3s are set to an L2, ethereum will not attract any value, posing a security risk.

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I'll say the quiet part out loud: L3s exist only to take value away from ethereum and into the L2s upon which L3s are built.

*You don't need L3 to climb*

And that's why Polygon Labs doesn't work on L3.

—Marc Boiron (@0xMarcB) twitter.com/0xMarcB/status/1774551016937324949?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” data-wpel-link=”external” target=”_blank”>March 31, 2024

However, Boiron's opinion met with opposition. One commenter argued that Layer 2s on ethereum “ARE value on ethereum,” to which Boiron partially agreed but maintained that L2 value does not equate to the value of ethereum.

Boiron clarified that Polygon Labs allows developers to build L3 on various platforms, including Polygon networks. Additionally, it focuses on scaling ethereum while ensuring fair value distribution between Polygon and ethereum. He reiterated Polygon's mission to scale ethereum using EVM parallelization and prioritizing privacy, arguing that L3s are not aligned with this goal.

In a post on March 31, the opinion of Helus Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz twitter.com/0xMert_/status/1774320167326978345″ data-wpel-link=”external” target=”_blank”>aligned

Debate over Layer 3 solutions heats up

Meanwhile, Peter Haymond, senior director of partnerships at Offchain Labs, twitter.com/peterhaymond/status/1774563196147569073″ data-wpel-link=”external” target=”_blank”>challenged Boiron's perspective and pointed out several benefits of L3s that do not detract from ethereum. These advantages include the cost-effectiveness of native bridging from L2 instead of L1, affordability of on-chain proofing, use of custom gas tokens, and specialized state transition functions.

Arbitrum Foundation researcher Patrick McCorry expressed surprise at Boiron's point of view, saying that L3s offer significant advantages, particularly by allowing L2s to evolve into settlement layers, thus reducing the cost of running bridges and relying on ethereum as a global ordering service and final arbiter of settlements.

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Surprised by the shot. L3s seem like a no-brainer, especially when they allow the L2 to eventually become a settlement layer (i.e. running the bridge is cheaper) and ultimately rely on ethereum as a global ordering service + final settlement judge .

– Patrick McCorry (,) (@stonecoldpat0) twitter.com/stonecoldpat0/status/1774559647472492851?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” data-wpel-link=”external” target=”_blank”>March 31, 2024

The L3 debate was initially started by ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in late 2022, when he mentioned that these chains would have a purpose other than scaling, offering specialized functionality. He emphasized that a third layer in the blockchain would only be justified if it introduced unique functions that layers 2 do not provide.

In particular, the current leaders within the L3 ecosystem are Orbs, zkSync Hyperchains, Xai, and the recently launched Degen Chain. Of the current L3 tokens, only four are listed on CoinGecko, showing that the sector is still small.

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