Vitalik Buterin’s warning! Stage 2 alone is not enough, Ethereum rollups need…

• Buterin urged rollups to ensure stronger proof systems besides stage 2 milestones. 
• ETH could hit $2.2K by June, according to options market positioning. 

Ethereum [ETH] has seen significant changes at the tech and leadership levels in 2025. 

In particular, the chain’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has been at the forefront of these positive shifts. Buterin has been vocal on resilience and decentralization, at base (layer 1, L1) and L2 levels. 

On Monday, he urged rollups (scaling protocols on Ethereum) to focus on ‘stronger’ and ‘battle-tested’ proof systems rather than solely relying on the ‘Stage 2’ milestone to mitigate risks. 

He said, 

“A good reminder that stage 2 is not the only thing that matters for security: the quality of the underlying proof system matters too.” 

For the unfamiliar, stage labelling (stage 0 to stage 2) represents the level of decentralization in a rollup. However, how the rollups handle off-chain transactions (proof system) should also be considered, per Buterin. 

Buterin proposal

According to the attached chart from Buterin, a rollup would move from stage 0 to stage 2 (more secure and decentralized), if it becomes more difficult to break (probability of proof system breaking reduces). 

Source: X

According to L2 data aggregator, L2 Beat, there were only 3 Stage 2 rollups as of May 2025.

However, seven rollups, including Base, Unichain, and Arbitrum, were at Stage 1, meaning they were fairly decentralized per current evaluation. 

But they might still have inherent risks under Buterin’s new model, especially if their proof systems aren’t battle-tested. 

Source: L2 Beat 

That said, crypto analytics firm Amberdata projected the altcoin could tap the $2.2K price in the medium term. The firm cited increased bids for call options (bullish bets) for $1800 and $2200 strike prices for May and June expiries. 

In fact, Amberdata also expected the ETH/BTC ratio to rebound soon. 

“There’s potential for a snap-back rally in the ETH/BTC ratio and ETH could easily relief rally above $2,200 in the medium term as risk-assets rebound everywhere.”

Source: Hyblock

On the price chart, the $1800 level aligned with an April high and resistance level (red). Flipping $1800 into support could allow price to advance to $2K or $2.2K (February lows) as the next overhead targets. 

While the daily RSI revealed improved buying pressure since mid-April, whale positioning was muted as shown by the red bars on the Whale vs. Retail Delta indicator. A stronger whale positioning (green) would suggest a potential for a robust upward momentum.