According to @scottshics, competing on “EVM + lower fees” turns L2s into commoditized blockspace rental where users and bots optimize purely for cost and performance, so durable edge must come from specialized features for specific use cases rather than cheaper fees, source: @scottshics on X. He cites Vitalik Buterin’s guidance that Ethereum L1 is scaling and L2s should pivot from being branded shards to delivering distinct value such as non-EVM privacy VMs, app-specific efficiency, extreme scaling, non-financial apps like social, identity, and AI, ultra low latency sequencing, and built-in oracles or dispute resolution, source: Vitalik Buterin on X, cited by @scottshics. Vitalik also advocates a native ZK EVM rollup precompile to enable trustless verification, stronger interoperability with Ethereum, and synchronous composability, pushing L2s to compete on unique functionality rather than fee cuts, source: Vitalik Buterin on X, cited by @scottshics. In line with this thesis, @scottshics says his team is building Kite as a purpose-built execution and settlement layer for AI agents, designed for millions of tiny actions, pay-per-call APIs, streaming micropayments, delegated authority, auditable constraints, and low-latency needs unlike traditional DeFi blocks, source: @scottshics on X. For traders, these sources imply attention should shift toward ETH and differentiated L2s that offer AI-native rails, privacy, or latency advantages, and away from undifferentiated EVM clones whose cost/performance race compresses value, source: @scottshics on X; Vitalik Buterin on X.

According to VitalikButerin, forks should be considered for Ethereum protocol bugs, not Layer 2 issues. Future protocol upgrades might integrate ZK EVM verifiers as part of native rollups, enhancing security and minimizing fork necessity. Traders should monitor these developments for potential impacts on Ethereum's scalability and stability.