The Espresso Network has officially transitioned to a permissionless proof-of-stake blockchain with the launch of its native ESP token. The token is used for staking, securing the network, and protocol participation. The Espresso Foundation announced a total supply of 3.59 billion ESP tokens, with 10% allocated to a fully unlocked community airdrop aimed at early ecosystem participants and users of Espresso-integrated rollups.
"There were various ways of determining who was eligible," Espresso Systems CEO and co-founder Ben Fisch told CoinDesk. "The idea here is to get the token circulating among members of our extended community, but also to reward early participation and adoption of the Espresso network." The foundation stated that additional token supply has been allocated to contributors, investors, future ecosystem incentives, and long-term network sustainability, with most allocations subject to vesting schedules.
Espresso acts as a coordination and finality layer for rollups, which operate as independent execution environments. Fisch emphasized that the network is designed specifically to serve layer-2 blockchains rather than compete with them. "Layer-2s need only one thing from a layer-1, which is finality," Fisch explained. "How well a layer-1 provides services to a layer-2 is measured in two things: how secure that blockchain is and how fast it can provide finality."
Unlike Ethereum, or any other existing layer-1s, it is designed for layer-2s. It doesn't compete with L2s. It's designed for L2s, Fisch added. The network currently finalizes rollup blocks in about six seconds on average, a significant contrast to Ethereum's 12-minute-plus finality window. Fisch argued this speed gap has become a structural bottleneck as applications and liquidity spread across multiple rollups. "Fast finality isn't a nice-to-have for rollups. It's the missing piece that transforms isolated chains into a unified, composable ecosystem," he stated.
The token launch coincides with a broader debate within the Ethereum ecosystem about the future role of layer-2 networks. This follows recent comments from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggesting the network may eventually pivot away from an L2-centric roadmap as improvements to Ethereum's base layer reduce the need for rollups as a primary scaling solution. This debate raises questions about whether L2s are extensions of Ethereum or independent blockchains, and whether infrastructure designed to scale Ethereum will remain relevant as the base layer improves.
As Ethereum's long-term scaling strategy faces renewed scrutiny, Espresso is betting that demand for application-specific rollups—particularly from institutions and consumer platforms—will continue to grow independently of Ethereum's roadmap.
