Sensemaking Report for GG24 – Domain: Ethereum Scalability
- Problem & Impact (400-500 words)
- Ethereum is currently facing an urgent challenge around scalability. With the rapid growth of DeFi applications, NFTs, and blockchain games, the network has seen transaction volumes spike, leading to congestion, high gas fees, and longer confirmation times. This directly impacts user experience, making it harder for individual users and smaller projects to access the platform, while also reducing Ethereum’s competitiveness compared to other blockchains like Solana or Polygon.
- Scalability isn’t just a technical issue; it has far-reaching effects across the entire Ethereum ecosystem—from developers and businesses to everyday users. Multiple research reports and real-world data show that unless this challenge is addressed effectively, Ethereum risks losing its leading position as the go-to smart contract platform. The frequent network congestion and gas fee surges are clear evidence that this problem is not theoretical—it’s happening now.
- More importantly, through community surveys and deeper discussions, I’ve seen that users don’t view scalability as just a “hot topic” or trend on social media. Instead, they see it as the single biggest barrier stopping them from using Ethereum efficiently and sustainably. This is a real pain point that shapes daily decisions: whether to deploy an app on Ethereum or elsewhere, or whether to make smaller transactions at all. Ultimately, it affects Ethereum’s ability to attract new users and keep developers engaged, which in turn has long-term consequences for the entire ecosystem.
- Sensemaking Analysis (200-400 words)
- To analyze this problem, I used several sensemaking tools, including direct surveys within user communities on Gitcoin forums, Ethereum StackExchange, and Telegram groups of major DeFi projects. I also gathered technical reports from Ethereum Core development teams, blog posts from leaders like Vitalik Buterin, ConsenSys research, and industry analysis from independent experts.
- Additionally, I used qualitative data analysis from interviews with project developers and blockchain researchers. All this data was aggregated and assessed against criteria like importance, urgency, and potential impact.
- The results clearly show scalability is still one of the top concerns across the community. It’s also a space where there are many ideas and ongoing experiments, but meaningful progress requires coordinated effort and significant financial support to advance Layer 2 solutions, sharding, rollups, and potentially new scaling technologies.
- Gitcoin’s Unique Role & Fundraising (200-400 words)
- I believe Gitcoin, with its large and active community, strong developer connections, and established credibility in the Ethereum ecosystem, can uniquely mobilize funding to address scalability. Unlike traditional organizations, Gitcoin operates as a network, encouraging collaboration between smaller teams, independent researchers, and existing projects—an approach that tends to produce faster and more diverse innovation.
- Raising $50,000+ for this domain seems realistic. Major potential sponsors like ConsenSys, Protocol Labs, and well-known figures in the Ethereum space (such as Vitalik Buterin) have already expressed strong interest in solving scalability. Additionally, Layer 2 providers like Optimism and Arbitrum are highly motivated to support initiatives that expand adoption of scaling technologies.
- I think Gitcoin can design a dedicated domain focused on scalability solutions, organize targeted grant rounds, and fund both experimental projects and production-ready tools—thereby pushing the ecosystem forward in a practical, bottom-up way.
- Success Measurement & Reflection (200-300 words)
- Within six months, success would look like:
- A measurable number of projects receiving grants to develop new scalability solutions.
- Growth in user numbers and transaction volume on Layer 2 networks supported by Gitcoin funding.
- Positive engagement and feedback from both developers and end-users about real improvements in scalability.
- I don’t plan to measure success purely by the amount of money raised or number of applications. Instead, I’ll look at actual impact: the quality of the projects funded, whether their solutions are adopted, and whether they effectively lower transaction costs and ease congestion for users.
- What would make the Ethereum community genuinely happy about funding this domain long-term is seeing concrete, working solutions that make Ethereum more accessible and competitive—preserving its leadership while improving everyday usability.
- Within six months, success would look like:
- Domain information
- I propose creating a dedicated domain for GG24 titled “Ethereum Scalability Solutions.” This domain would raise funds specifically for research and development in technologies like Layer 2 scaling, rollups, sharding, and other innovative approaches.
- Planned domain experts could include experienced contributors from the Layer 2 ecosystem—developers from Optimism, Arbitrum, or members of the Ethereum Foundation research team.
- I plan to structure this domain using one primary grant round, plus several sub-rounds focused on specific scaling approaches, to maximize the efficiency and precision of funding distribution.
BLEEP Sharding: Quantum-Secure, AI-Guided Scaling
AI-Powered Load Balancing
Post-Quantum Security
Autonomous Shard Rebalancing
Persistent Ledger Storage
Peer-to-Peer Broadcast Layer
Parallel Merkle Tree Construction
This design complements rollups and L2s by offering shard-native state optimization and cryptographic robustness at the base layer.
GitHub: 
Whitepaper: