The most common criticism heard in the community over the past two weeks is: "L2 is making a fortune, while the ETH mainnet is being neglected," and some even outright call L2 a "parasitic" entity that sucks ETH's blood. But this perspective is actually a big misunderstanding. Let’s look at it from a different angle: the true engine behind this rebound is the potential of the L2 ecosystem unleashed by technological upgrades, combined with the market increasingly recognizing its value as the "global settlement layer." Those complaining about L2 mostly haven't grasped the fundamental logic of this market movement.

First, let's correct a common misconception: L2 is not competing for ETH's market share; rather, it helps ETH "break out of its circle" and expand. The Fusaka upgrade launching in 2025 introduces PeerDAS, which completely rewrites the way L2 handles data storage — full nodes no longer need to download all data forcibly. Theoretically, blob capacity can increase by 8 times, directly leading to a potential 40-90% reduction in L2 transaction fees.

Some might say, "L2 fees are already cheap, so what?" The key point is: cheap fees attract a continuous stream of users and capital. But these new users and capital ultimately rely on ETH as an anchor — gas fees on L2 are settled in ETH, collateral in DeFi remains ETH, and cross-chain fund flows also depend on ETH as a bridge. How is that parasitic? It’s clearly feeding back into the mainnet.

The even more exciting part is still to come. The Glamsterdam upgrade in 2026 will be the real "killer move." This upgrade’s "block access list" mechanism is akin to transforming Ethereum from a "one-way street" into a "multi-lane highway." Transactions can be processed truly in parallel, significantly increasing TPS without raising gas limits. It will also enable a native separation of proposers and builders, which helps alleviate MEV centralization issues and provides ample processing time for zk-proof verification. At that point, the true throughput capacity of L1 will see a qualitative leap.

In short, L2 is not a competitor but an extension tool for the ETH ecosystem. This rebound just confirms that the market has finally seen this clearly.