20-4-2025 – As Solana’s meteoric rise reshapes the decentralised finance (DeFi) landscape, Ethereum’s prospects remain firmly in the spotlight, with Uniswap founder Hayden Adams championing a steadfast commitment to Layer 2 scaling. In a recent X post, Adams passionately advocated for Ethereum to double down on its Layer 2 roadmap, a strategy it has pursued since 2020, to counter Solana’s formidable DeFi dominance. He argued that Solana’s Layer 1 architecture is inherently optimised for DeFi, giving it an edge, while Ethereum’s future hinges on refining its horizontal scaling solutions to stay competitive.
Adams didn’t mince words, criticising voices within the Ethereum community who clamour for a return to Layer 1-focused development. “Ethereum has been carving out an L2-centric path for over five years,” he declared, questioning the logic of abandoning this trajectory in its final stages. He urged detractors to “pick a lane” and stick with the established roadmap, warning that constant pivots risk derailing progress. Yet, he left the door ajar for a Layer 1-centric shift, provided it’s approached with clarity and pragmatism. Such a move, he noted, would demand significant trade-offs, including abandoning the ethos that any laptop can run a node—a principle central to Ethereum’s decentralised identity.
The debate over Ethereum’s scaling strategy comes as the platform grapples with its bleakest quarterly price performance in nearly a decade, with ETH languishing below the $2,000 mark after failing to sustain a psychological threshold. Coingape’s analysis highlights the neck-and-neck race between Ethereum and Solana, pondering whether ETH can reclaim $3,000 before SOL surges to $200. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s Layer 1 has seen scant updates, as its ecosystem has prioritised a sprawling array of Layer 2 solutions, sparking calls for a strategic rethink.
Despite the price slump, Tron founder Justin Sun has reaffirmed his commitment to Ethereum, vowing not to sell his ETH holdings. Sun pledged to work alongside Ethereum’s developers to bolster the ecosystem, a vote of confidence amid turbulent times. Adams, too, acknowledged the merits of a Layer 1 pivot for Uniswap, noting that its primary market share stems from Layer 1 activity. However, he cautioned that such a shift could exacerbate centralisation risks, potentially limiting individuals’ ability to run full nodes—a cornerstone of Ethereum’s accessibility.
