As of October 2026, under its model at the time, the Ethereum L1 was primarily functioning as a data availability layer for Layer 2 networks to post proofs

The largest smart-contract blockchain and its native asset ETH, covering protocol upgrades, staking, fee economics and institutional adoption.

Networks built on top of base blockchains that process transactions off the main chain to cut fees and boost throughput, including rollups, sidechains, and state channels.

Assurance that the data behind blockchain transactions is published and retrievable so anyone can verify the chain, a core bottleneck for scaling rollups.