Frictionless flows are Ethereum’s path to economic dominance

Opinion by: Barna Kiss, CEO of Malda

An idea recently floated by some prominent thinkers in the Ethereum space to reclaim value for the mainnet is the taxing of its Layer-2s. The future of Ethereum does not depend on policy but on enabling frictionless capital movement between the L2s in question. Tariffing rollups may appear a neat way to reclaim value for the mainnet. In practice, it would fragment the ecosystem, drain liquidity, push users toward centralized platforms, and avoid decentralized finance altogether. In a permissionless system, capital flows to where it is treated best, and Ethereum’s rollups mistreat it.

Liquidity fragmentation is Ethereum’s real threat

In traditional finance, the link between fluidity and growth is well established. Lower barriers to capital inflows lead to higher investment. Take the European Union’s pre-Brexit single market. Investment flows slowed when the United Kingdom’s exit fragmented access to capital pools, as economists tracking cross-border activity noted. Ethereum faces a decentralized parallel. 

Rollups, particularly those that are optimistic and ZK-based, impose delays of up to a week on withdrawals and offer only patchy cross-rollup liquidity. The result is a fragmented system in which adoption slows, and capital is underused.

Developers are left with two poor choices. Either they focus on one rollup and limit their audience, or fragment liquidity across several and accept inefficiencies. Neither option serves the ecosystem’s long-term interests. A significant opportunity lies, therefore, with protocols that remove these frictions. They will attract more capital, operate more efficiently, and deliver better experiences.

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Capital movement must be abstracted away from the end-user. Bridges and withdrawal queues should become protocol-level concerns, not user problems. It is feasible for liquidity deployed on one rollup to satisfy demand on another, with background rebalancing ensuring solvency and efficiency. What today seems complex can be made invisible.

This design shift from reactive bridging to intent-based liquidity coordination would restore composability and preserve decentralization. More importantly, it would uphold Ethereum’s core principles of building open systems without central gatekeepers. Without it, users will continue to rely on centralized exchanges to bypass friction, compromising self-custody for convenience. This is not just a technical…