Idea: Generation-Based Blob Pricing to Raise Price Moderately on Existing L2s and Higher on Future L2s

Ethereum's L2 ecosystem has succeeded beyond expectations. Our Gen1 L2s—Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, and others—took a risk on rollup infrastructure when it was experimental. They proved the model works and scaled Ethereum to billions in TVL, successfully killing the "Ethereum Killers."

But as /u/vbuterin correctly pointed out, current blob fees are unsustainably low for long-term network health. But I think there's a path forward that can make the transition into Vitalik's new vision for L2s easier.

Proposal: Generation-based pricing

Gen1 L2s (launched before March 2026):

• Preferential "founder pricing"
• Gradual 15-20% annual increases over 5 years (I don't know if 15-20% is correct, but just basically a small enough increase that these L2s won't rebel and happily stay in the ecosystem).
• Still far below independent L1 operation costs (~$10M+/year)

Gen2 L2s (launching 2026-2028):

• Starting price 3-4x Gen1 base rate
• Steeper increases (25%/year)
• Still economically viable vs. building independent chains

Gen3+ L2s (2029+):

• Market-rate pricing reflecting network maturity
• Maybe staking required.

Why this works:

• Honors early adopters (not a penalty, a reward), but still extracting some additional value from them.
• Creates urgency for new projects (launch early = better terms)
• Familiar model (AWS Reserved Instances, Netflix early subscriber rates)
• Predictable 5-year schedule (institutions can forecast costs).
• Sustainable revenue for Ethereum without driving L2s away
• This isn't "picking winners". When you give away your old box of comic books on craigslist and you say "first come first serve" is that picking winners?

By 2030, Ethereum could capture $50M+/year vs. current $182K—without losing any major L2s.

This approach rewards risk-takers, provides clear pricing roadmaps, and ensures Ethereum's infrastructure remains sustainable as we scale to billions of users (human and ai).

Thank you for reading I look forward to your criticism.