Layer 2
A network built on top of a blockchain to make transactions faster and cheaper, like Base on Ethereum.
- glossary
A layer 2 (L2) is a network that executes transactions off the main blockchain (layer 1) and then posts compressed proofs or data back to it, inheriting the parent chain's security while dramatically reducing cost and latency. The two dominant designs are optimistic rollups — which assume transactions are valid and allow a fraud-proof challenge window — and ZK rollups, which post a cryptographic validity proof with every batch. Networks like Base, Optimism, Arbitrum, and zkSync are L2s on top of Ethereum. Moving computation to an L2 can reduce gas fees by 10–100×, making micro-transactions and high-frequency asset transfers economically viable. For tokenized domain operations — routine transfers, DNS configuration updates, sub-domain issuance — executing on an L2 means users pay cents instead of dollars while the asset's provenance remains anchored to Ethereum mainnet. A cross-chain bridge moves assets between L1 and L2 when needed.
Related keywords
- layer 2
- rollup
- scaling
- optimistic rollup
- ZK rollup
Contributors
Namefi is a collective of engineers, designers, and operators who obsess over building tools that make managing your onchain domain names effortless.
Victor Zhou is a technology founder and standards editor focused on digital identity and trust. He founded Namefi, edits Ethereum Improvement Proposals, and previously led smart-contract architecture work at Google Labs.
His work sits at the intersection of naming, ownership, and the systems people use to establish identity online. That perspective makes him especially interested in the way names move between personal meaning, public recognition, and digital infrastructure.
For Namefi, Victor edits and writes about domains as durable digital identity: how names become ownable onchain assets, how tokenization changes custody and trust, and what naming can learn from the systems people use to establish identity online.