Layer 2s have significantly reduced congestion on the Ethereum mainnet and driven down gas fees while maintaining security. However, concerns have arisen regarding whether they are 'extractive', as they seem to be diverting fees and transaction activity from the mainnet. Centralized L2s like Base and Optimism are generating substantial sequencing fees but are not adequately compensating Ethereum for the services it provides. The recent Dencun upgrade further boosted L2 profitability, leading to questions about their net impact on Ethereum. Although Base reports having paid Ethereum over $20 million in fees since its launch, this represents a small fraction of their overall revenue, with April figures showing only 8% of transaction fees going to Ethereum. Some propose 'based rollups', where transaction ordering is handled directly on Ethereum, enhancing decentralization. Others suggest imposing a tax on L2s to address fee imbalances, but this might deter competitiveness and shift activity to other layer 1s. Ethereum's long-term growth strategy may focus on technical solutions rather than immediate revenue gain.

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