Analysis • Nov 2, 2025
How Rollups Are Reshaping Ethereum Scaling
By Sofia Martinez
title: "How Rollups Are Reshaping Ethereum Scaling" author: "Sofia Martinez" date: "Nov 2, 2025" category: "Analysis"
Rollups — both optimistic and zero-knowledge (ZK) — bundle transactions off-chain and post compressed proofs or summaries to Ethereum's mainnet. They provide vastly improved throughput at a fraction of the cost of on-chain transactions.
Optimistic vs ZK rollups
Optimistic rollups assume transactions are valid and allow a dispute window for fraud proofs. ZK rollups publish succinct cryptographic proofs that transactions were computed correctly.
Trade-offs
- Optimistic rollups are currently more mature in some ecosystems but have longer finality (challenge windows).
- ZK rollups promise faster finality and stronger guarantees but have historically been harder to generalize for arbitrary smart contracts.
Engineering teams must choose based on composability needs, latency tolerance, and developer toolchain.