Ye Zhang, the co-founder of the layer-2 smart contract platform Scroll, has voiced strong opposition to the idea of imposing fees on Ethereum rollups, describing it as detrimental to the network’s long-term growth in favor of short-term profits.

In a series of comments on X, Zhang emphasized that adopting this fee structure would jeopardize “long-term scalability and ecosystem growth,” arguing that evaluating ETH’s value solely based on Ethereum’s revenue is a flawed perspective.

Zhang highlighted that the real strength of Ethereum lies in its position as “the hub asset across thousands of rollup ecosystems,” rather than attempting to accrue fees from them. Data from DefiLlama indicates that following the implementation of the EIP-4488 upgrade, which enhanced layer-2 scalability, Ethereum’s fees experienced a significant reduction from millions per day to approximately $570,000 by late March.

Further elaborating, Zhang compared Ethereum with Solana’s network, which integrates the Solana (SOL) token as its central asset. He pointed out that ETH already serves as the primary asset within several platforms, including Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync, and Scroll, and is even utilized in ecosystems like StarkNet where it doesn’t function as the gas token.

Zhang cautioned that imposing fees on rollups could lead to unintended consequences, potentially driving these systems toward alternative data availability solutions that could diminish Ethereum’s role within the ecosystem. He warned that if Ethereum seeks to capitalize on layer-2 chains, it risks losing relevance while failing to achieve effective scaling.

Instead of prioritizing revenue generation from rollups, Zhang advocated for a focus on scalability and accelerating the rollout of upgrades. He is not alone in his concerns; previous reports have indicated that the Ethereum development community has experienced challenges related to internal disagreements and delays, potentially hindering progress on important updates.