Historical retrospective · Layer 2
State channels explored off-chain Ethereum interaction
State-channel designs let participants exchange signed state updates off-chain and use the blockchain mainly to open, close or resolve disputes.
They can make repeated interactions cheaper when the participant set and application logic are sufficiently stable.
The research helped broaden Ethereum scaling discussions beyond simply increasing base-layer throughput.
Channels are best suited to particular interaction patterns; they are not a universal replacement for on-chain execution.
Primary source
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