PANews reported on February 5th that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that the current trend of creating numerous new EVM chains is simply copying the established template of "EVM chain + a one-week delayed optimistic cross-chain bridge," or building so-called "L1-like chains" that have no bridging relationship with Ethereum. This low-level duplication of construction is consuming the innovation potential of the entire industry. He urged developers to shift towards building solutions with genuine technological differences, such as privacy protection, application-specific execution layers, or ultra-low latency networks, rather than continuing to create technological "copies."

Furthermore, Buterin emphasized that regarding the "connection with Ethereum," outward appearances should align with inner substance—that is, "consistency between appearance and reality." He clearly distinguished two valuable technological paths: first, Rollup application chains that deeply rely on the Ethereum mainnet for settlement and data verification, truly achieving composability; and second, verifiable on-chain systems that, while lacking decentralization and trustlessness, provide algorithmic transparency to traditional institutions through on-chain validity proofs (such as STARK proofs). His core argument can be summarized as follows: the industry should return to creating fundamental technological value while ensuring that the "Ethereum niche" claimed by projects truly reflects their underlying technological dependencies.