Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron criticizes L3 network for undermining Ethereum's value

Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron expressed dissatisfaction with Layer 3 (L3) networks, believing they are undermining the value of Ethereum. His comments were made as excitement around L3 networks like Degen Chain continues to heat up. These networks are built on top of Layer 2 (L2), supporting application-specific decentralized applications (dApps) and providing solutions such as scalability, cost, and interoperability. Polygon Labs is a second layer expansion network for Ethereum, and Boiron wrote in X that the company does not deal with third-layer networks because their extensions to existing networks are redundant.

In addition, he worries that L3 networks could harm Ethereum's security and overall value. Therefore, if all L3s settle to one L2, Ethereum will no longer have value which would pose a risk to security. However, Boiron's view was rebutted. Some commentators believe that the second layer on Ethereum "is the value on Ethereum". Boiron partially agrees with this but insists that L2 value is not equivalent to Ethereum's value. He clarified that Polygon Labs allows developers to build L3s across various platforms including the Polygon network itself while focusing on expanding Ethereum and ensuring fair distribution of values between Polygon and Ethereum. He reiterated that Polygon’s mission is to expand ethereum through parallelization of EVM prioritizing privacy; he believes this goal contradicts with what an L3 aims for.