Ethereum builders are pushing a brand new solution to unify the ecosystem after years of fragmentation attributable to the very networks designed to scale it.
On Sunday, veteran Ethereum builder Gnosis and zero-knowledge digital machine challenge Zisk unveiled the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ), a framework aimed toward linking layer-2 rollups extra tightly to the base community.
The proposal positions Ethereum as the central hub, with Ether (ETH) remaining the fuel token and settlement layer. It additionally introduces a mannequin the place sensible contracts can work together throughout mainnet and EEZ rollups with atomic execution.
The initiative comes as Ethereum reassesses its rollup-centric roadmap. After pushing exercise to layer-2 networks, a lot of the financial worth shifted away from the base layer. Rollups depend on Ethereum for safety and remaining settlement, however in follow, find yourself capturing consumer charges and income, a relationship some critics have described as “parasitic.”
Comparable makes an attempt to unify fragmented blockchain ecosystems have been tried earlier than, with combined outcomes.
Ethereum’s fragmentation drawback
In the newest crypto bull run, ETH efficiency dissatisfied a lot of its holders. It set a new all-time high close to $5,000 final August, nevertheless it was solely a marginal bounce from its earlier peak. It couldn’t sustain with Bitcoin (BTC), which flew larger than $120,000.
Many attributed Ethereum’s weaker performance to liquidity fragmentation and the overflow of layer-2 networks. On Tuesday, 23 rollups collectively secured $30.77 billion, in line with L2BEAT.
Associated: Why institutions still prefer Ethereum despite faster blockchains
“Ethereum does not have a scaling drawback. It has a fragmentation drawback,” Friederike Ernst, co-founder of Gnosis, mentioned in an announcement shared with Cointelegraph. “Each new L2 that launches with its personal liquidity pool and its personal bridge is one other walled backyard.”
She added:
The EEZ is designed to do the reverse. One Ethereum, not 100 islands.”
In follow, that liquidity stays largely siloed on particular person rollups, every with its personal DeFi ecosystem. The end result resembles a set of parallel economies relatively than a unified market.
Bankless co-founder Ryan Sean Adams in contrast the present state of Ethereum and its L2s to the North Atlantic Treaty Group (NATO), describing it as a “free alliance of chains that decide in to shared safety.”
The EEZ would shift that construction nearer to a federated financial union of chains — much like the US and its 50 states — with out requiring a tough fork.
“I hadn’t seen a lot motion on this imaginative and prescient till now,” mentioned Adams.
The proposal primarily impacts three teams. First, for Ethereum, it may enhance liquidity circulation throughout the ecosystem by lowering reliance on bridges, which stay a significant assault floor as funds are locked in contracts and uncovered to exploits.
Second, for customers, EEZ goals to allow seamless motion between Ethereum and its rollups by lowering friction and price of shifting belongings. Customers can accomplish that with out the want for fixed bridging.
Lastly, for protocols, it removes the must handle bridges, wrapped belongings and chain-specific deployments, simplifying operations throughout the ecosystem, according to the EEZ.
Ethereum isn’t first to attempt an “financial zone”
An instance of an financial zone already exists. The “Atom Financial Zone,” or AEZ, was Cosmos’ attempt to link chains by way of a hub-and-spoke mannequin constructed on “Interchain Safety.” Chains may lease safety from the Cosmos Hub in trade for sharing charges and staking rewards with ATOM holders.
The idea drew renewed consideration following the EEZ announcement, with early Cosmos contributor Zaki Manian noting {that a} comparable concept launched in 2023 didn’t discover success.
“Most issues fail and so the ecosystem inevitably [becomes] plagued by corpses of failed tasks and this inevitably results in insecurity in the challenge as an entire,” Manian said.
Blockchain researcher Dankrad Feist questioned how that have applies to Ethereum’s proposed financial zone. Manian responded that many tasks constructing inside the EEZ framework are additionally prone to “fail.”
“The Atom expertise is that the broader public will interpret this as a failure of EEZ,” Manian added.
Associated: How SocialFi, memecoins and AI pushed Base to the top of the L2 ladder
Cosmos isn’t fairly Ethereum. It’s a framework and a networking layer, and the Cosmos ecosystem is a community of sovereign L1 chains.
In the meantime, Ethereum is a layer-1 blockchain that has a transparent hierarchy. Ethereum rollups are structurally depending on Ethereum for settlement and safety, aligning their incentives with the base layer.
Gnosis co-founder Martin Köppelmann pitched in to Feist and Manian’s dialogue by pushing again at the comparability. He framed EEZ round synchronous composability and entry to Ethereum’s state relatively than shared safety or income fashions.
The tradeoff is that rollups should observe Ethereum’s occasional chain reorganizations, including complexity, however Köppelmann described these occasions as rare and manageable in comparison with the advantages.
“So yeah, I’m joyful to guess on the success of EEZ!” he added.
EEZ good points traction as Ethereum rethinks its scaling technique
Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap was broadly considered as mandatory when it was first launched and did obtain its purpose of easing the community’s congestion.
That will have come at a price. Some market watchers argued it blunted a key worth rally alternative throughout the final bull cycle. In addition they warn that Ether dangers losing its position as the second-largest cryptocurrency to Tether’s stablecoin, USDt (USDT).
It additionally follows criticism from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who mentioned many L2s have not fully transitioned to a decentralized model.
“The unique imaginative and prescient of L2s and their position in Ethereum not is sensible, and we want a brand new path,” Buterin said in a February X submit.
Although Ethereum’s pivot again towards scaling the base layer is current, the EEZ has been a very long time coming. An early model of the concept was described as an “Ethereum 3.0 imaginative and prescient” by Bankless co-founder Adams after listening to Köppelmann’s presentation on native rollups in 2024.
The EEZ has gained widespread consideration due to backing from the Ethereum Basis and its growth workforce, which incorporates Gnosis, identified for constructing the Secure multisig pockets and early prediction market infrastructure.
The EEZ has but to disclose key particulars reminiscent of its technical structure and efficiency benchmarks, however mentioned these will probably be printed in the coming weeks.
Journal: Nobody knows if quantum secure cryptography will even work
![[2026-03-30] Blumenthal Demands Answers from SEC Chairman over…](https://cryptonews100.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/1774970234_sharelogo-120x86.jpg)
