Ethereum’s blockchain lags behind Solana in terms of building DeFi, prompting developers to focus on second-layer (L2) solutions. This perspective was shared by Uniswap’s CEO, Hayden Adams, during a discussion with Bankless co-founder David Hoffman.
Solana has a better roadmap, team, and and approach if the plan is to do defi on L1 /vertical scaling
Ethereum has been working towards L2 centric / horizontal scaling roadmap for 5+ years
You want to throw this away at the final stretch because of what reason?
— Hayden Adams ? (@haydenzadams) April 19, 2025
The debate was sparked by a post from the X-account of Unichain, an L2 project by Uniswap developers, stating “Unichain — for DeFi.” Hoffman countered, pointing to Ethereum’s L1.
“If the plan is to build DeFi on L1 and vertical scaling, Solana has a better roadmap, team, and approach. Ethereum has been working on an L2-centric, horizontal scaling roadmap for over five years. Why abandon this at the final stretch?” Adams responded to the Bankless co-founder.
He noted his support for L1 scaling improvements as part of the rollup-centric roadmap but identified “confusion” in priorities as an issue:
“People need to set a course and try to mitigate associated risks, rather than attempting to change narratives and strategy every month.”
According to Adams, trying to follow all approaches simultaneously is “the only thing worse than choosing nothing.”
Hoffman urged for a combined effort on both layers within the Ethereum ecosystem.
“It shouldn’t be a ‘rollup-centric roadmap’; it should be a ‘rollup-centric roadmap around a very strong L1,'” the Bankless co-founder replied.
He argued against designating any L2 network as the “home for DeFi,” as it “comes at the expense of DeFi on L1.”
In January, Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin stated that the ecosystem would continue to scale primarily through L2 solutions.
At that time, he noted that the main obstacles were insufficient space for BLOB objects and the mutual incompatibility of various second-layer networks.
In April, Ethereum introduced a “simplified roadmap” for the coming year: to scale BLOB objects and L1, and to enhance user experience through greater interoperability between second-layer networks and work on the application layer.
simplified roadmap
— scale blobs
— scale the L1
— improve UX (L2 interop + app layer focus)— joshrudolf.eth (@rudolf6_) April 13, 2025
Many commentators expressed support for scaling the main network as outlined in the Glamsterdam update.
In April, the Ethereum ecosystem regained its lead in total trading volume on decentralized exchanges, surpassing Solana.