The following is a guest post and opinion from Aryan Sheikhalian, Head of Research at CMT Digital.
Ethereum is betting big on a future filled with rollups. But in typical Solana fashion, the network is taking a different route—one that doesn’t just scale more blockspace, but bespoke execution environments with first-class developer control.
Enter Network Extensions, Solana’s most important—and misunderstood—infrastructure innovation to date. While they’re often compared to sidechains or dismissed as Solana’s version of appchains, that framing undersells what’s really happening here. Network Extensions allow for custom execution environments that don’t fragment liquidity or composability—unlocking a new frontier for application-specific blockspace without breaking the core network apart.
This isn’t just a scaling strategy. It’s a statement about how the future of crypto infrastructure will work.
Solana’s modular, L1-integrated extensions preserve validator security, support differentiated consensus and transaction logic, and offer developers more design surface without forcing them to launch new chains or settle for constrained rollups. That’s a big deal for anyone building high-performance applications—from games to DePIN to real-world finance.
While Ethereum L2s offload computation and struggle with fragmented liquidity, Solana is building something quieter but more elegant: a unified, highly customizable L1 that treats specialization as a first-class primitive. And in doing so, it might just leapfrog the rollup wars entirely.
Customization Without Fragmentation
Ethereum’s Layer-2s were built to scale. Solana’s Network Extensions were built to specialize.
While Ethereum rollups increase throughput, they all run essentially the same playbook—general-purpose blockspace, minimal variation, and fragmented liquidity across siloed chains. The architecture improves efficiency, but not flexibility.
Solana takes a different view. Network Extensions let developers define their own execution environments from the ground up. They can customize consensus mechanisms, transaction logic, dedicated storage, and isolated environments that don’t compete with mainnet traffic. More importantly, they do it without breaking composability or spinning up entirely new chains.
Data Availability, Solana Style
Unlike Ethereum’s standardized rollups, Solana has not mandated a single approach to Network Extensions. That’s by design. It invites experimentation—so long as extensions validate state transitions and anchor them to Layer 1, preserving Solana’s unified state and liquidity.
To achieve this, Solana has introduced specialized data lanes, akin to Ethereum’s blobspace for rollups. One of the most promising developments is ZK Compression, a joint effort by Helius and Light Protocol. By compressing account state and using zk-proofs to validate state transitions, ZK Compression offers a glimpse into how Solana can scale without sacrificing verifiability or speed.
Comparing Ethereum’s Approach: Throughput Over Customization
While Solana is enhancing execution environments with Network Extensions, Ethereum is focusing on two major scalability improvements: Layer-2 rollups and preconfirmations.
- Rollups bundle transactions off-chain, then submit them to Ethereum L1. The tradeoff? Fragmented liquidity and independent state.
- Preconfirmations aim to reduce perceived latency by issuing soft guarantees before block inclusion. Useful? Sure. Transformative? Not really.
Solana’s approach skips the workaround entirely. With sub-second finality, it doesn’t need preconfirmations. And with Network Extensions, it avoids the L2 complexity tax by keeping specialized execution environments anchored to a unified chain.
Why This Matters for Builders
For developers, Network Extensions lower the barriers to launching custom environments—without the overhead of managing an entirely new chain or compromising user experience. This unlocks a long tail of blockchain applications that don’t want to live inside generalized blockspace.
Customization has already proven its value as a driver of innovation.. Network Extensions encourage experimentation by providing secure, flexible execution environments for applications. Specifically, consumer-focused applications—where abstraction and UX optimization are paramount—stand to benefit the most.
Applications that stand to benefit include:
- DeFi: Custom execution environments enable high-frequency trading, low-latency transactions, and built-in regulatory compliance features like KYC enforcement.
- Supply Chain Management: Isolated environments facilitate complex logistics workflows, ensuring data integrity and real-time tracking without burdening the mainnet.
- DePIN and IoT: Extensions can efficiently process data from IoT devices and integrate with blockchain-based DePIN networks.
- Gaming: Dedicated resources allow for near-instant settlements and optimized in-game economies.
What Comes Next?
Network Extensions mark a shift in how blockchains can scale—not just by handling more transactions, but by supporting more types of applications. As more developers’ experiment with specialized execution environments, Solana’s infrastructure could evolve into a network of purpose-built layers that remain unified at the base.
This model stands in contrast to the fragmentation creeping into other ecosystems. Rather than offloading scale to separate rollups or appchains, Solana keeps customization close to the core. That reduces friction, preserves composability, and gives developers more room to build without starting from scratch. This approach could yield custom-tailored DeFi platforms, next-gen consumer applications, and institutional blockchain environments compliant with real-world regulations.
The success of Network Extensions will depend on developer adoption, tooling, and real-world deployment. But the early signs are promising. If executed well, this strategy could redefine blockchain infrastructure, shifting the focus from mere scalability to flexibility, adaptability, and application-specific performance.