Vitalik Buterin highlights risk of weak proof systems in Ethereum Layer-2 rollout

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has warned that Layer-2 networks should only transition to full decentralization when their underlying proof systems are highly reliable.

In a May 5 post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Buterin emphasized that advancing to “stage 2″ of decentralization must be accompanied by solid technical safeguards to avoid introducing unnecessary risks.

He said:

“A good reminder that stage 2 is not the only thing that matters for security: the quality of the underlying proof system matters too.”

He explained that a network’s decentralization level should align with its proof system’s maturity and dependability. Buterin argued that decentralization may cause more harm than good if the system remains error-prone.

Buterin’s remarks come in response to a suggestion by Daniel Wang, founder of the Loopring Foundation, who proposed a new label of “Stage 2-BattleTested” to highlight Layer-2 solutions that have endured real-world stress conditions.

According to Wang, such a label would signal that the code has undergone rigorous testing and is more trustworthy in live environments. He added:

“A rollup is #BattleTested if its current code and configs have been live on Ethereum mainnet for over 6 months, and has consistently secured over $100M in TVL – with at least $50M in ETH and major stablecoin.”

Buterin illustrates why proof system matters

Buterin acknowledged Wang’s position, while illustrating a risk model where each Security Council member has an independent 10% chance of failure.

This includes potential safety issues, such as signing incorrect data, or liveness issues that resulted in their unavailability or unwillingness to sign data.

Buterin acknowledged that this model is imperfect due to real-world vulnerabilities, such as collusion or coordinated hacks, also known as common mode failures.

Considering this, he noted that moving to stage 2 earlier than modeled may sometimes be the better choice, especially as proof system quality improves.

Meanwhile, Buterin also proposed using multi-signature (multisig) setups with several independent systems to reduce the risk of a single point of failure in proof systems.

He argued that the probability of a protocol failure is closely tied to the strength of its proof mechanism, especially in advanced security stages.

The Ethereum co-founder warned that deploying a stage 2 model with a weak, stage-0-level proof system could be the worst-case scenario.

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