EthCC Cannes Special Report: 10 Industry Trends Revealed at the Taiko Based Rollup Summit

With global developers gathering in Paris for EthCC 2025, Taiko—the first based rollup scaling solution on Ethereum—successfully held its second Based Rollup Summit in early July in Cannes, continuing to promote the exploration of Ethereum's scaling future.

Core figures from the Ethereum Foundation, Celo, SSV Network, Boundless, and other ecosystems engaged in in-depth discussions around based rollup technology, preconfirmations, and the ever-evolving Ethereum ecosystem.

Here are the 10 key points from this summit:

1. Pre-confirmation is everywhere - you can even use it to buy coffee.

Joaquin Mendes, the Chief Operating Officer of Taiko, opened the summit with a relatable example, emphasizing that pre-confirmation is not a foreign concept, but rather a mechanism we use every day.

"Pre-confirmation has actually always existed, even when you go to buy a cup of coffee."

Mendes provided an in-depth explanation of the working principle of the pre-confirmation mechanism and how it allows users to have a smoother and faster trading experience on Taiko, while laying the groundwork for understanding its key role in Ethereum scaling.

2. The Future of ZK: Rather than competing on technology, it's better to address user needs.

Boundless CEO Shiv Sankar shared his views on the future of zero-knowledge technology, emphasizing that what truly matters is not the competition in technology, but whether it can create value for users.

"The key lies in understanding what users truly need - and then fulfilling those needs with ZK technology."

He pointed out that the main competitors of Web3 are not other chains, but traditional tech giants like Amazon. The real challenge lies in understanding user behavior and creating products that they are willing to pay for.

3. URC integration allows validators to easily access based services

SSV Network CEO Alon Muroch introduced the Universal Registry Contract (URC) and explained how SSV lowers the registration threshold for validators through programmatic integration, facilitating their participation in based rollup services.

"Now, most transactions occur on L2, rather than the Ethereum mainnet. This is a huge opportunity for validators and rollups."

The SSV client has integrated URC, allowing validators to quickly complete registration without cumbersome operations, whether managing 10 nodes or 10,000 nodes, the process is equally smooth.

4. Why can't Ethereum simply shorten the block time and why is the pre-confirmation mechanism important?

Taiko CEO Daniel Wang responded to a common question: Since the goal is a faster user experience, why not directly shorten Ethereum's block time to 1-2 seconds?

"Taiko's goal is to compress the block time from 12 seconds to below 2 seconds. But some may ask, why doesn't Ethereum do this itself?"

He pointed out that Ethereum currently has over 1 million validators, and sub-second consensus will impose extremely high requirements on hardware and synchronization, which is likely to undermine its decentralization and accessibility. Therefore, based preconfirmation is a more realistic solution that aligns better with the spirit of Ethereum.

5. What are the success indicators defined for based preconfirmation?

Multiple attendees jointly proposed the key indicators for measuring the success of based preconfirmation:

For example, in the currently running based rollup, the pre-confirmation function connects to the L1 proposer, and at least 20% of the staked equity chooses to participate. At the same time, the decrease in fees and the optimization of user experience are also considered core signals for determining the feasibility of a solution.

6. A future built for enterprises and privacy

Tomasz K. Stanczak, Co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, emphasized that the strategic focus for mainstream adoption should be on enterprise implementation and privacy protection.

"We are not building products directly for users. The end users will access through Web2 platforms, while the underlying must be a truly trusted blockchain."

He believes that supporting enterprises to participate in and promote compliance cooperation is the key path to unlocking global mainstream markets.

7. The story of Ethereum needs to be told better.

Celo CEO Marek Olszewskii posed a thought-provoking question:

"Are we attracting the wrong crowd?"

He stated that in order to attract institutional investors and ordinary users, Ethereum needs to present a clearer and more appealing narrative—not just as a "smart contract platform," but as a truly profitable asset ecosystem with unique value.

8. Horizontal scaling is the only future for Ethereum expansion.

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake has pointed out that vertical scaling for Ethereum has reached its limit, and the next step must be towards horizontal scaling. "We must scale horizontally, there is no other choice. Even if we go faster by one more second, it won't be enough."

He believes that solutions like shared sequencing and cheaper SNARK verification will enable rollups to complete settlements in every gap, thereby moving out of Ethereum's "adolescence."

9. Booster Rollup: A brand new scaling paradigm

Brecht Devos, co-founder and CTO of Taiko, proposed a new concept of Booster Rollup, emphasizing the differences between this type of rollup and traditional solutions. "The vast majority of contracts are deployed on L1, but each rollup can be directly linked to the main network."

This means that L1 contracts can be directly called on L2, achieving automatic scaling without sacrificing composability.

10. True scalability is internet-level availability.

At the end of the summit, Kyle Rojas, the head of business at Avail, Gustavo from OpenZeppelin, and Harry Gao, co-founder of Luban, discussed a fundamental question: what are we really scaling for?

"Can we really scale to the level of the Internet? Can we support the kind of user experience that ordinary users are accustomed to?"

They unanimously believe that true blockchain scalability is not just about increasing TPS, but about establishing a globally usable system that simultaneously upholds decentralization, censorship resistance, and security.

Finally

In addition to technical content, the Taiko Base Rollup event also features an interactive experience segment, where on-site guests can personally try out on-chain games built on Taiko technology, showcasing the fun and vitality beyond the "hardcore" of blockchain innovation.

From the pre-confirmation mechanism to Booster Rollup, these cutting-edge practices promoted by Taiko are sketching out a truly scalable, feasible, and globalized new future for Ethereum— and this is just the beginning.