Scalability. One of the biggest problems facing many of the popular and very useful blockchains like Ethereum is scalability. While the blockchains are popular, their systems can often not handle as much traffic, processing, and transactions as is required by the users.
This is where layers come into play. The term “Layer 1” refers to the main blockchains like Ethereum. “Layer 2” is another blockchain that runs on top of or alongside the main blockchain to improve its efficiency without sacrificing decentralization or security. Other blockchains like Solana, Terra, and Cardano, while they can process transactions faster or more efficiently, often sacrifice security and decentralization. Layer 2 seeks to preserve those fundamental aspects of crypto while also improving Ethereum.
Layer 2 blockchains, like Polygon, take some of the transaction and recording burden off of layer 1 while adding extra functions making the main blockchain faster, still secure and decentralized, and most importantly scalable.
