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Developers at Gnosis and Zisk, backed by the Ethereum Foundation, unveiled the concept of the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) as an attempt to address Layer 2 fragmentation. EEZ is designed to enable interaction between rollups without bridges, reducing liquidity fragmentation as well as duplicated infrastructure buildout costs and the need for cross-chain transfers. With about $40 billion in assets spread across more than 20 Layer 2 networks, discussions are under way on forming an EEZ Alliance and revisiting rollup architectures. A new unified framework has been proposed to resolve fragmentation in Ethereum (ETH)’s Layer 2 (L2) ecosystem.

According to Cointelegraph on the 29th (local time), developers at Ethereum infrastructure firm Gnosis (GNO) and ZK-based infrastructure developer Zisk, with support from the Ethereum Foundation, unveiled the concept of an “Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ).” The core of the framework is enabling smart contracts across different rollups to execute synchronously within a single transaction.

The project is being developed with participation from Ethereum researchers, major infrastructure providers, and DeFi protocols. More detailed technical architecture and performance metrics are expected to be released in the coming weeks, alongside discussions on standardization for ecosystem-wide adoption. The proposal also includes plans to establish an “EEZ Alliance.” The organization would be tasked with setting interoperability standards among rollups and coordinating collaboration among ecosystem participants.

The move comes amid ongoing debate over Ethereum’s rollup-centric scaling strategy. According to L2BEAT data, assets worth about $40 billion are currently spread across more than 20 Layer 2 networks, with liquidity split among major networks such as Arbitrum, Base, and Optimism.

Previously, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin pointed to centralized sequencers and trust-based bridges in some Layer 2 designs as potential vulnerabilities, and has mentioned the need to revisit existing rollup models. Still, views within the industry are mixed. Karl Floersch, co-founder of Optimism (OP), stressed that rollups must evolve beyond being a mere scaling tool, while Steven Goldfeder of Offchain Labs, developer of Arbitrum (ARB), said rollups remain a core scaling solution.