We are searching for some clarity amongst the fog here. For any daily user of Ethereum the value prop is undeniable.
To any ‘power’ user of the chain, you are forced to laugh off, or be irritated by, the congestion-punishment. The more the chain is used, the pricier it becomes to use. Even with such a self-harming dynamic, we can’t get enough of that sweet sweet ether.
But like any captive recently released from confinement (in this case the corpo-political duopoly) it is all too common to rest on one’s laurels. I feel very much this is the case when we examine L2s.
Ecosystems
The value prop of layer 2s are quite clear:
cheaper gas fees
faster transaction speeds
maintained security of layer 1 (supposedly)
But speaking as a creator/power-user, why do I hesitate to use them outside of writing articles on @Mirror or trying to play the $MAGIC pumpamentals?
I even played around on @zksync recently, bought 2 non-fungies, and then never went back. The meme I keep coming back to is ‘soul’. I don’t feel any soul on layer 2 yet.
Layer 1
@Zora is one of my favorite entities onchain currently. You can feel the soul. As a result of such magnetism you see nearly 1M people have come to collect there. This statistic is dual purposed in this essay.
750k is a lot relative to DAUs onchain
750k is not a lot relative to mature industries
We are still early. And from my vantage point, we are really really really early actually.
Vessels like Art Blocks, Manifold, Zora, CryptoPunks, Uniswap, and Nouns all have soul. They exist on Layer 1. Thus, everything they attract also exists on L1. All their copycats and would-be competitors exist their as well.
Let’s say there are 2M people here daily. What percentage do you think interact onchain up a layer? Where/what are the vessels that incentivize this behavior?
Layer 2
There was an interesting article written about consumer facing the bridge aspect of moving ETH to L2s. You can read that article here ↓
https://d.mirror.xyz/Sjpxa2r_wxkQUGXUr8oO2PhBlyfIRgLBx2YevoXXwyY?k
Not only are there more friction points when trying to interact with L2s (as outlined in the above article), there are less soul-full organizations, marketplaces, and collectives there to interact with.
In no way is this meant to besmirch those actively building there. This is an inquisition into how to accelerate their efforts.
If we reduced it down to fundamental elements I come away with a few ideas:
the need for ‘blue chip’ level aesthetics (think AB, Manifold, Zora, etc)
the need for something to incentivize bridging (bridge pass, etc)
the need for a collective of layer 2 native artists (think HEN, AB, SR, etc)
Beyond those essentials I also feel like:
a Nouns dao fork (different aesthetics and principles)
an Art Blocks fork (look at @ProhibitionArt)
would do wonders as well.
MMORPG
If the agreed upon meme of blockchains is that we are all player 1s on multiplayer servers, then it seems like we need to make the various chains feel different.
I understand for expediency’s sake there is a tendency to copy what has worked on L1. But the more I question my own (and others) hesitancies, the more I come away with the idea that if it’s going to feel the same why not just keep playing where I already am?
