As a result of network congestion, transactions on Ether have become unthinkably slow and expensive. This gave the opportunity for alternative networks to explode with rapid growth. It started with BSC, which attracted regular users with its cheapness, then a wave of liquidity swept Polygon, Fantom, Avalanch and Solana. Liquidity followed more profitability. Once the network's allotted money to attract new users is depleted, liquidity flows to the next place. The new year will pose new challenges for blockchain leaders. They'll have to figure out a different way to raise capital and alternative strategies for users to earn money.
The main narrative for 2022 will be L2 solutions on the airwaves. Inheriting all the main advantages of the parent network, L2 - will bring scalability, cheapness and speed of transactions, while maintaining decentralization and EVM compatibility. Optimizm and Arbitrum have already confirmed this concept, but they have been overtaken by ZKRollups almost at the start, showing themselves to be more efficient and high performing. ZK Sync and ZK Stark could be the main open source solutions for Ether scalability.
Also worth noting are the less universal and more point-to-point L2s built on the Stark EX, aimed at solving specific problems or deploying individual applications. Such as ImmutableX, DeversiFi, DyDx and others. These solutions allow even more flexibility and efficient use of the network for specific tasks. For example for NFT sales, derivatives trading or game development.
The whole architecture and beauty of ZK lies in the winning concept for all parties. New applications benefit from switching to L2 to save on infrastructure, ZKRollap cuts costs with increased transaction volume, and you and I enjoy the convenience and cheapness. At the same time, L2 will offload the core network and make it affordable again.
Scalable solutions will guarantee a long and happy life for the Ether network, even if the transition to PoS is delayed or not so successful. Perhaps in the future, the Ether network will become a hidden, but indispensable infrastructure for the B2B segment, with which the end user will not even interact.