“There were way too many general-purpose layer twos, which frankly don’t make sense as a product, because there’s no reason to have many, many versions of the same thing,” Ben Fisch, CEO of Espresso Systems, told CoinDesk. “We’re in a consolidation phase for general-purpose layer twos, not layer twos broadly.”

Industry leaders argue the shakeout reflects a broader shift across crypto rather than a problem unique to Ethereum scaling networks.

“Consolidation is happening across all of crypto right now, not just layer two, from DeFi protocols to DEXs and infrastructure providers. It’s a sign that the industry is maturing. The networks continuing through this period are the ones people actually use and depend on,” Marek Olszewski, co-founder…