A group of Ethereum projects has announced a new effort aimed at solving a growing problem on Ethereum: its ecosystem is becoming too fragmented.
Revealed at the EthCC conference in Cannes, the project, called the “Ethereum Economic Zone” (EEZ), is designed to make Ethereum’s many complementary networks (known as layer 2 or L2) work together more seamlessly.
The framework is being developed by Gnosis, Zisk and the Ethereum Foundation. Gnosis is a long-time Ethereum infrastructure developer, while Zisk focuses on zero-knowledge proof technology.
It comes as Ethereum for years relied on L2 networks to scale, although these networks often operate as separate islands. Users have to move assets between them using bridges, which can be slow, expensive and risky, while developers often have to rebuild the same tools on each network.
The SEZ aims to change that by making all of these networks feel like a unified system. In simple terms, it would allow applications and transactions on different Ethereum networks to interact instantly, without the need for bridges, while also relying on Ethereum’s core security.
The announcement comes as Ethereum’s long-term reliance on L2 scaling has faced renewed debate. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently suggested that the ecosystem might need to rethink parts of its L2 roadmap, particularly as fragmentation and user experience issues persist. The SEZ appears to directly address those concerns by seeking to unify liquidity, infrastructure, and user flows across networks, rather than adding more isolated chains.
The idea is to create shared liquidity (so funds can move freely), simpler infrastructure for developers, and a more seamless experience for users. The system would also continue to use ETH as its primary token for fees, rather than introducing new ones.
The project is being developed openly with input from the broader Ethereum community.
“Ethereum doesn’t have a scale problem. It has a fragmentation problem. Each new L2 is a silo that makes it harder to seamlessly extend and drive value back to the Ethereum mainnet,” Friederike Ernst, co-founder of Gnosis, said in a press release shared with CoinDesk. “The EEZ is designed to do the opposite.”
Read more: From ‘Ethereum peer’ to indie stars: How Vitalik Buterin’s latest turn is forcing layer 2s to grow
