Native Rollups: What They Are and How They Can Bring Money Back to Ethereum

Layer 2 solutions (L2) offer relatively fast and cheap interoperability with Web3 and remain a key element of Ethereum scaling. At the same time, they require enhanced user experience (UX), bring problems to the economy of the second-capitalized cryptocurrency and make life difficult for developers. The latter are forced to create and maintain their proof mechanisms, depend on the rollup security board, and manually make changes after network updates.

The answer to these problems may be the concept of native rollups - initially synchronized with Ethereum and relying on basic-level security. Coinpaper took a look at how they are organized and explains how the new technology could be useful to the ecosystem.

From basic to native

In March 2023, leading Ethereum developer Justin Drake proposed to increase decentralization of the network by implementing basic rollups. He envisions this approach should load the workload of all validators, limiting the use of third-party mechanisms. The concept was first presented back in 2021 by Vitalik Buterin. 

L2s like Arbitrum and Base attract users with speed through the use of fast but centralized sequencers - mechanisms that determine how transactions are processed and added to the blockchain.

The new MegaETH project, a rollup whose public testnet launches on March 21, 2025, is built on a similar principle. Its early-stage architecture involves running only a single sequencer to enable ultra-fast transactions.

On January 25, 2025, an online meeting between Ethereum developers and L2 solution leaders took place. The topic of discussion was the transition to base rollups.

L2 Base CEO Jesse Pollack said that base rollups are a ”flexible and powerful tool” that can make Base more connected to Ethereum and improve security.

Director of the Optimism Foundation Ben Jones supported the project, adding that the technology will improve the interaction between L1 and L2.

In June 2024, Justin Drake highlighted startup Taiko as the first base rollup, providing a map for the development of an ecosystem of Ethereum native solutions.

According to Cointelegraph, Declan Fox, head of zkEVM Linea, predicted new core rollups as early as this year. However, he noted that it will take longer for existing L2s to transition, given the need to develop new interoperability standards.

In January 2025, Drake wrote a post about the ”native” rollup system. He explained that the concept of basic and native rollups are applicable in different blockchain mechanisms. 

While the former refers to the creation and ordering of blocks, the latter involves the use of a basic L1 level of execution. A rollup that combines the two approaches is close to the ideal.

There should be no logic 

There are a few basic ways to validate transactions on EVM-compliant L2 networks:

• ”optimistic” proofs - assuming all transactions are correct and then writing them to Ethereum. During a seven-day period, selected participants can challenge questionable transactions before withdrawing assets back to L1;

• ZK-rollups. They use cryptographic proofs to confirm the calculations performed in the rollup, significantly speeding up Ethereum withdrawals.

The native rollups proposal means that L2 will no longer need to create complex proof systems and security boards. Instead, they will simply hand the Ethereum underlying layer a list of transactions.

Proofs are small cryptographic snapshots capturing the state of asset ownership in rollups that are periodically written to Ethereum.

Justin Drake describes an execution precompiler (EXECUTE-precompile) that converts native rollups into ”programmable sharded mechanisms”. This process resembles the old sharding plan of Ethereum, only in a modified form.

The term ”precompiler” refers to a special type of contract built into the Ethereum protocol that extends the capabilities of the EVM.

By recording the L2 state of Ethereum, rollups benefit from its decentralized network. In turn, users can withdraw funds without authorization and force transactions censored by the sequencer.

Native rollups will handle transactions, inheriting L1 security with just a few lines of code. The network is also expected to update automatically, without governance votes or security board intervention.

Not having to duplicate Ethereum logic will reduce maintenance costs, simplify security by leaving L2 synchronized with the underlying. For users, native rollups will open up a new level of trust, allowing large savings to be stored.

Rollups are ”spinning” towards Ethereum 

Native rollups could bring a share of revenue back to the Ethereum baseline, which could have a positive impact on the value of ETH in the long run.

They will be forced to give up a significant portion of the revenue generated from MEV - the extra profit that block producers earn by reordering, including or excluding transactions. They will also have to say goodbye to the large sums collected from commissions on centralized sequencers. 

According to Dune Analytics, as of this writing, Arbitrum has received 64,250 ETH (~$122 million) in commissions, Base has received 34,570 ETH (~$66 million).

During the AMA session on February 25, 2025, Vitalik Buterin, Justin Drake, and Dankrad Feist discussed the development of the network.

Buterin expressed support for native rollups, while Drake described their prospects.

Arbitrum, Base, Optimism and Scroll are already interested in going native, he said.

Native rollups don't require separate proof systems or external validators - all processes are handled by Ethereum. As a result, L2s benefit from several key advantages:

• Ethereum standards compliance. Native rollups automatically inherit L1 updates, ensuring consistency, compatibility, and quantum security;
• enhanced security. Users can store assets on a native rollup and trust it just like Ethereum. The risk of wallets with multisignature being hacked is reduced;

• prospects for appchains. As dapps strive for security, they can opt for the native rollup model by simply adding their own features;
• simplified development. No need for proprietary fraud proof mechanisms or ZKP. This simplifies deployment and maintenance;
• efficient ZKPs. Combine multiple proofs, reducing their verification costs in ZK rollups.

Drawbacks, tradeoffs, and expectations

Native rollups solve management and security problems, but do not address all of Ethereum's scalability limitations, sometimes imposing additional ones:

• re-execution of each onchain transaction may be inefficient unless additional ZKPs or ”optimistic” techniques are used due to gas limit;

• incomplete equivalence of EVM-compatible rollups. Specialized transaction formats or custom gas metering methods may encounter compatibility issues, highlighting necessary tradeoffs in UX;

• the inability to participate in EVM-incompatible networks like the popular SVM or MoveVM;

• the execution precompilation that native rollups rely on significantly increases data availability costs, potentially inflating L2 overhead by a factor of 5-10.

While native solutions represent an important step forward in terms of Ethereum scalability, not every rollup is likely to adopt this approach. Instead, as considered by Dogan of Cyber Fund, the ecosystem could evolve into three main categories:

• corporate rollups. Custom developed and controlled by the business to meet specific needs, such as transaction processing order or privacy;.
• performance-oriented rollups; projects like MegaETH increase transaction speeds while reducing costs through alternative data availability solutions like EigenDA;
• native rollups. Fully integrated with Ethereum, they inherit base-level security and update automatically, eliminating the need for external management or separate proof mechanisms.

Drake expects the first version of native rollups to be available as early as next year. However, it will take longer to reach full technical maturity, including integrated ZKPs and gas limit increases.

Native rollups offer a clear development path where L2s are synchronized with Ethereum without complex governance structures and create a convenient and secure experience for users, developers and the entire ecosystem.

Given the contribution of Ethereum engineers to the ecosystem and the evolution of the entire blockchain industry, we should expect an equal return on their brainchild, Layer 2 solutions.