Ethereum breaks through $4,300! Vitalik returns as an on-chain billionaire, stating that "one hour withdrawal" is more urgent than L2 decentralization.

This week, Ethereum (ETH) price has strongly broken through $4,300, pushing its co-founder Vitalik Buterin's on-chain assets back over $1 billion. Just as the market cheers for the price surge and the influx of ETF funds, Vitalik has thrown out another focus—shortening Layer-2 withdrawal times, which is more urgent than achieving the second phase of L2 decentralization.

ETH surges driving Vitalik back to on-chain billionaire

(Source: Arkham)

Arkham data shows that wallets associated with Vitalik currently hold about 240,000 ETH, worth approximately 1.04 billion USD at recent prices.

ETH price rose 6.2% on Saturday, breaking the $4,300 mark for the first time since December 2024, and remained around $4,250 in Nansen quotes.

ETF fund flows have become one of the driving forces—within just five trading days, the net inflow of the US spot ETH ETF reached 326 million dollars, surpassing the 253.2 million dollars of Bitcoin ETF during the same period.

Vitalik: Withdrawal time is more important than L2 Phase 2

In discussions on the X platform, Vitalik stated that although multiple mainstream L2s (Optimism, Unichain, Scroll, Ink, Kinto) have completed the first phase of upgrades, the next step should prioritize achieving withdrawal times of less than 1 hour.

He pointed out that currently it may take up to a week to withdraw from L2 to L1, unless through intermediary bridging, but these bridges often rely on multi-signature or MPC, which contradicts the decentralization concept of Ethereum.

ZK proof becomes a key breakthrough

Vitalik believes that as Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZK Proof) technology matures, L2 can complete settlements faster and more securely.

He proposed a hybrid "2-of-3" proof system that combines ZK proofs, optimistic proofs (OP), and trusted execution environments (TEE), requiring consensus from just two of the three to verify withdrawals.

However, he also admitted that the gas cost of submitting large ZK proofs on-chain is still a bottleneck.

Long-term Vision: 12 Seconds Settlement and Instant Liquidity Across L2

Vitalik's ultimate goal is to achieve L1 settlement for multiple L2s every slot (approximately 12 seconds) by merging multiple ZK Rollup proofs through proof aggregation technology.

This will allow asset transfers between L2s to be completed almost instantly, completely eliminating the reliance on centralized bridges and long withdrawal windows, and solidifying Ethereum L1's position as the high-speed settlement layer for the entire ecosystem.

Conclusion

The price of ETH has突破 4,300 USD, making Vitalik once again a on-chain billionaire. However, his focus is not on short-term prices, but on the optimization of Ethereum's infrastructure. Shortening L2 withdrawal times is not only an enhancement of user experience, but also a crucial step for Ethereum to become a global high-speed financial layer in the future. With the progress of ZK technology and proof aggregation, this vision may be realized faster than the market imagines.