Max Resnick on Ethereum's Roadmap, Economics, and Alignment Taxes
A deep dive into the core issues Ethereum faces as it progresses on its roadmap
For today's episode, we’re diving into one of the most compelling conversations around Ethereum’s future—what it takes to create a truly thriving onchain ecosystem, with Max Resnick.
The key questions we raised about the future of rollups, app chains, and Ethereum’s economic structure were very pressing to the current discourse.
Are rollups helping Ethereum grow, or are they parasitic? Should apps like Uniswap stay on Ethereum L1, or is launching their own chain inevitable? How do we address the growing cost of security while keeping Ethereum accessible and composable for all?
Max answered each quite thoroughly.
A central theme was the idea of "alignment taxes"—a proposal to share Ethereum’s security costs across apps and rollups proportionally to the value they derive. This concept challenges how we think about onchain value and whether Ethereum can continue relying solely on staking rewards funded by ETH issuance.
Could this idea lead to a more sustainable and equitable ecosystem? Or does it risk driving activity to other chains with lower costs?
Another major focus was the tension between composability and scalability. Rollups have unlocked incredible potential, but they also create fragmentation. Asynchronous composability and interoperability are improving, but are they enough to match the seamless experience of keeping everything on one chain? Meanwhile, usecase-specific chains like Uniswap’s new chain raise questions about whether Ethereum is providing the tools apps need—or if apps are branching out to secure their own interests as L2s?
Finally, we dove into rollup economics and sequencing. Single-sequencer models have been criticized for being extractive and centralizing market power. The discussion explored how ideas like multiple proposers, deterministic ordering, and app-specific sequencing could create fairer systems for users and applications alike.
This is a must-watch conversation.
Let’s dig into what’s at stake and the paths that could shape Ethereum’s next decade.
The Rollup