Original title: "Do we really need so many Ethers?"

Original by Joe, Momentum BlockTempo

In 2025, investment heat was pushed to a new height in Web3 and the slogan "self-building of the Ether Layer 2" was called from the start to Wall Street. But a senior analyst, Paul Brody, warned that for the vast majority of companies, independence L2 may be a costly illusion。

Double temptation: low cost, high control

The L2 core selling point is "Safety and Efficiency Together". Enterprises can follow the safety mechanism of the ETP host network while reducing the costs of Gas through batch settlements。

For example, under Coinbase Base created $4.9 million in cost income in June, but only about $50,000 was paid to the main network. In addition, centralized nodal design allows enterprises to set their own fees and access rights and to have visual coverage, as if it were an upgrade of traditional private chains。

COLD REALITY: 150 L2 MOST OF THEM ARE SILENT

But behind the tempting story, market data pour cold water. According to L2Beat, there are more than 150 L2, most of the total value of the locking (TVL) is less than $1 million and the user activity is thin. In the context of the homogeneity of competitors, it is difficult to get out of the way by "faster and cheaper" alone。

L2 IS LIKELY TO BECOME A SUNK COST AFTER INPUT DEVELOPMENT, MANPOWER AND MARKETING, AND IF THE FLOW IS NOT RAPIDLY CONCENTRATED。

What kind of company needs to be built? Look at Wall Street

Brody points out that it is only institutions that can “take a lot of primary trade” that are legitimate in building L2. The most typical are financial service providers with large retail investors. The Morgan Chase Onyx sector has managed gold monetization through L2, saving about 20 per cent of the cost; the Belet Buidl Fund has linked US bonds to ETF, with assets exceeding $2 billion; and Securitize is also managing $3.7 billion in assets and lending on the chain。

The common denominator of these cases is that the volume of transactions is large, chain operations are at the core of the business, and high control is required within the regulatory framework。

Following the upgrading of the Ether factory Pectra, it is expected that the single cost will be reduced to 0.001-0.08 and that the high frequency scene will be more attractive. However, the ticket is not cheap, and the company still has to answer three points:

1. Possibilities to aggregate transaction volumes far above peers

2. Whether chain transactions are directly linked to revenue models

3. WHETHER THE CONSTRUCTION OF L2 CREATES DISPARITIES BEYOND THE REACH OF OTHER NETWORKS。

History alert: lessons from private chains

Most firms want bargaining power, and they want eco-taxation, to be self-defeating. Similar impulses had taken place in the era of private chains, resulting in a lack of interoperability and mobility, with most of the projects winding up. "History always repeats itself because we are not good at learning from it." I don't know

WITHOUT A LARGE VOLUME OF TRANSACTIONS, L2 STILL NEEDS OPERATIONAL, AUDITING AND SECURITY UPGRADES; RATHER THAN FIGHTING ALONE, ACCESS TO MATURE, OPEN AND AFFORDABLE EXISTING L2S IS PREFERABLE。

IN CONCLUSION, L2 IS NOT A PANACEA. WHEN THE MARKET DIVIDEND IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE, RATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THEIR NEEDS AND INVESTMENT IN REAL VALUE CREATION ARE IMPORTANT WATERSHEDS IN DETERMINING SUCCESS。

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