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 the second Based Rollup Summit in early July in Cannes, France, continuing to drive the exploration of Ethereum's scaling future.

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

Here are 10 key points from this summit:

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

Taiko's Chief Operating Officer Joaquin Mendes 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 pre-confirmation mechanism's workings, how it enhances user transaction experience on Taiko to be smoother and faster, while laying the groundwork for understanding its key role in Ethereum scalability.

2. The Future of ZK: Instead of 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 technological competition, but whether it can create value for users.

"The key is to understand what users really need—then use ZK technology to meet those needs."

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 barrier to validator registration 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 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 reduce the block time from 12 seconds to below 2 seconds. But some might ask, why doesn't Ethereum do this itself?"

He pointed out that Ethereum currently has over 1 million validators, and sub-second consensus will place extremely high demands on hardware and synchronization, likely compromising its decentralization and accessibility. Therefore, based preconfirmation is a more realistic and more in line with the spirit of Ethereum solution.

5. What are the success metrics for the based preconfirmation?

Multiple participants at the conference jointly proposed key indicators for measuring the success of based preconfirmation: For example, the based rollup that is currently running online integrates the pre-confirmation function with the L1 proposer, and at least 20% of the staked interests choose to participate.

At the same time, the decrease in transaction fees and the optimization of user experience are also considered core signals for determining the feasibility of the 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 trustworthy blockchain."

He believes that supporting enterprises to participate in and promote compliance cooperation is the key pathway to connecting with mainstream global markets.

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

Celo CEO Marek Olszewskii raised a thought-provoking question:

"Are we attracting the wrong audience?"

He stated that 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 scaling.

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake clearly pointed out that Ethereum's vertical scaling has reached its limit, and the next step must be to transition to horizontal scaling.

"We must scale horizontally, there's no other choice. Even if we gain another second faster, it's still not enough."

He believes that solutions like shared sequencing and cheaper SNARK verification will enable rollups to complete settlements in every gap, thus 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 for 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 directly connect to the mainnet."

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 business leader of Avail, Gastuvo from OpenZeppelin, and Harry Gao, co-founder of Luban, discussed a fundamental question: what exactly are we 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 available system that 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" aspect of blockchain innovation.

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