Linea Token Launch Controversy Reveals L2 Dilemma: What Is the Future of Ethereum's Scalability Roadmap?

Three years of interaction and hundreds of thousands of dollars invested, ultimately only resulting in a few thousand dollars worth of token airdrops—Linea’s upcoming TGE (Token Generation Event) has left many participants deeply disappointed. As a highly anticipated L2 network under Consensys, the token issuance event of Linea has not only sparked widespread community discussion but also indirectly reflects the deep-rooted challenges facing the entire L2 ecosystem.

Behind this turmoil lies a broader question: Has the L2 scaling solution once hoped for by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin become a dead end?

Three Years of Waiting Fails: Linea Token’s Current Status Falls Far Short of Expectations

The story of Linea begins with visions of a bright future for L2. As a representative of the “Ethereum orthodoxy,” Linea has long been regarded by the industry as one of the most promising networks in the L2 space. However, when this expectation was finally realized through a token launch, it was met with widespread investor disappointment.

According to publicly available information, many users who invested heavily in interacting with Linea reported that, although their total interaction amounts reached tens of thousands of dollars, the value of the airdropped tokens they received might only be a few thousand dollars, or even less. This huge gap between expectations and reality has led participants to question: Was their three-year investment worth it?

This is not an issue unique to Linea. The entire L2 ecosystem is experiencing a phase of “loss of public confidence.” Many users, after investing significant time and funds, find that their returns are far below expectations, severely damaging confidence in L2 projects.

Declining Activity on L2 Networks: The Truth Behind the Data

Linea’s difficulties are particularly evident in the data.

According to the latest statistics from TheBlock, on September 9, the seven-day average number of transactions across major L2 networks varied greatly: Base led with 11.56 million transactions, Arbitrum had 2.36 million, Optimism 1.15 million, while Linea only had 211,000. This figure not only lags far behind industry-leading networks but also reflects that Linea, once a star project, is experiencing a rapid decline in actual usage.

Even more concerning is the collapse of user activity. Taking daily active addresses as an example, Linea had only 56,000 on September 9, compared to around 750,000 in July 2024—a drop of over 90%. This shocking number indicates that Linea, which once attracted a large user base, is experiencing unprecedented user loss.

The entire L2 ecosystem faces similar difficulties. The performance of ZK series L2 networks is even more bleak: Scroll’s daily active addresses are about 6,300, zkSync Era only handles 25,000 transactions, and Polygon zkEVM has become a “ghost network.” The once highly anticipated L2 track is turning into an ecosystem lacking vitality.

The True Path for Ethereum: Stablecoins and RWA Ecosystem

Ironically, although the L2 networks themselves are in trouble, L2 still plays an irreplaceable strategic role within the Ethereum ecosystem.

First is the accumulation of TVL (Total Value Locked). According to l2beat data, as of September 10, the total TVL across Ethereum’s L2 networks has reached $54.7 billion. Although this is below the peak of $65.5 billion in December 2024, it still represents a significant liquidity pool within the Ethereum ecosystem.

Second is seamless integration with traditional finance. Besides crypto-native networks like Arbitrum and Optimism, traditional tech companies such as Sony’s Soneium L2 chain, Alibaba’s Ant Group’s RWA L2 chain Jovay, and Robinhood’s stock tokenization platform built on Arbitrum are proving a fact: L2 is becoming a bridge for traditional assets to enter the blockchain world.

This means that the future of L2 may not lie in the prosperity of its native ecosystem but in its value as infrastructure. The breakthrough path for the Ethereum ecosystem should focus on two directions:

First, deepening the stablecoin ecosystem. With the rise of narratives like PayFi and DePIN, stablecoins are no longer just trading pairs but are gradually evolving into a foundational financial infrastructure. Linea and other L2 networks should prioritize providing optimal foundational support for the stablecoin ecosystem.

Second, large-scale onboarding of RWA assets. 2025 marks the tenth anniversary of Ethereum mainnet launch and is a critical period for the RWA (Real World Asset) sector’s development. An increasing number of listed companies are considering increasing their ETH treasury reserves by tokenizing traditional assets like stocks, embracing blockchain. L2 networks should become the main carriers in this process.

Bubble or Nourishment? The Other Side of the L2 Ecosystem

Looking at 2025, we must acknowledge a harsh reality: most L2 networks are caught in a vicious cycle of “fundraising → token issuance → disappearance.” Linea is merely the latest example in this cycle.

Many projects fade out of the market gradually due to poor token performance and sparse ecosystem applications, becoming mere fragments in the long history of crypto. But this does not mean the entire L2 ecosystem is to be dismissed. In fact, even within this seemingly bleak ecosystem, there is a wealth of innovation.

Although Linea and other L2 networks have disappointed in token performance and ecosystem vitality, they have indeed brought technological innovation, product iteration, and new narratives to the crypto market. If L2 is a bubble, then this bubble is also the soil for nurturing the next generation of innovative products. From this perspective, the existence of Linea is not some “industry black history,” but an inevitable product of blockchain development reaching a certain stage.

Whether the Ethereum ecosystem can achieve a real breakthrough through new directions like stablecoins and RWA remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: relying solely on the “native ecosystem prosperity” of L2 is no longer a viable path. Ethereum needs new value narratives to drive further ecosystem development.