Uniswap Founder Wants Ethereum To Continue Horizontal Scaling

The calls for Ethereum to focus on Layer 2 scaling are growing louder, with Uniswap founder Hayden Adams joining the train.

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams says he hopes that Ethereum will continue to hone in on Layer 2 scaling to compete favorably in decentralized finance (DeFi) with decentralized ledgers like Solana.

The threat of Solana and the importance of Layer 2 scaling were discussed in a recent X post by Adams, where he urged the Ethereum community to pick a lane and continue on its current course.

The DeFi protocol founder notes that Solana is better suited to do DeFi on its layer 1, given its roadmap and overall approach compared to Ethereum. However, the latter is trying to keep up with its own Layer 2 scaling solutions, which Adams claims are still Ethereum’s best chance to win.

"Layer 2 solutions are rolling out and they are our best chance to win in DeFi,” said the Uniswap founder. “Solana is better suited to do DeFi on its L1 (they have the throughput and focused on this from day 1).

Ethereum has been working towards an L2-centric/horizontal scaling roadmap for 5+ years. You want to throw this away at the final stretch because ...? And the final product isn't even complete yet. Pick a lane and stick to it. Don't change lanes every month and take on more risk.”

The Ethereum community has been discussing the possibility of pivoting to a Layer 1-centric scaling approach in recent months. This is in response to the challenges that Ethereum faces in scaling its Layer 1, which has led to a decrease in the price of ETH and a threat from Solana.

However, Adams believes that it would be best for Ethereum to continue with its current roadmap of focusing on Layer 2 scaling solutions. He also said that he would be open to the possibility of pivoting to a Layer 1-centric approach if it is done explicitly and realistically.

"I’m fine with L1-centric scaling approach if it’s explicit and approached realistically (e.g., we would have to drop a ton of philosophical stuff like any laptop can run a node, since this isn't true for L1). And if we're pivoting to L1-centric scaling, then we're doing it now, not in a few months.

Uniswap's largest market share comes from L1. I'd prefer if we could continue towards this goal without pivoting at the last minute. But if we are pivoting, then let's do it cleanly and quickly. L2s are rolling out and we're running out of time to win in DeFi."

The Uniswap founder went on to recommend some key network changes that would be needed in order to pivot to a Layer 1-centric scaling approach.

"If we're pivoting to L1-centric scaling, then we would have to drop a ton of philosophical stuff like any laptop can run a node, since this isn't true for L1. And if we're pivoting to L1-centric scaling, then we would have to make some changes to the network quickly. For example, we could increase the gas limit to handle more transactions. We could also reduce the block time to make the network more responsive.

But I think it would be best for us to continue with our current roadmap and focus on completing the L2 scaling solutions that are already in progress. We're close to having some breakthrough L2 scaling solutions that will allow us to compete favorably with other blockchains like Solana. And I think that's what's best for the Ethereum ecosystem in the long run."

The threat of Solana has been growing in recent months as the price of ETH has fallen and the DeFi ecosystem on Solana continues to expand rapidly.

Recently, Tron founder Justin Sun said that he is not selling his ETH holdings despite falling prices and that he plans to collaborate with Ethereum developers to trigger ecosystem growth.