Victoria d’Este
Printed: October 09, 2025 at 7:21 pm Up to date: October 09, 2025 at 7:21 pm
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October 09, 2025 at 7:21 pm
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When Taiko launched its Mainnet in Might 2024, it redefined Layer 2 design by prioritizing decentralization and safety over uncooked efficiency—a daring stance that, as COO Joaquin Mendes reveals, displays the crew’s long-term imaginative and prescient to construct Ethereum’s first totally based mostly rollup with uncompromising rules and a user-first ecosystem.
When Taiko launched its Mainnet in Might 2024, it instantly set itself aside by prioritizing decentralization and safety over sheer efficiency, a daring transfer in an area dominated by rollups which might be centralized. On this interview, Joaquin Mendes, COO of Taiko, Ethereum’s first based mostly rollup, shares his journey from conventional finance to Web3. He discusses Taiko’s design decisions that problem business norms, and the way the crew is constructing a Layer 2 ecosystem that balances cutting-edge know-how with a user-focused expertise.
Are you able to begin by introducing your self and your journey into Web3?
I primarily oversee enterprise operations and technique at Taiko. My journey into Web3 started round ten years in the past, and I made it my profession 4 years in the past, after I joined Polygon Labs as a Enterprise Developer. Earlier than that, I labored in conventional and company roles.Â
In constructing Taiko, what was the main design resolution you made that went in opposition to the prevailing business course, and why did you decide to it?
When Taiko was based three years in the past, present Layer 2s and rollups had been taking a centralized strategy. Within the trade-off between efficiency, decentralization, and safety, they selected efficiency. At this time, all rollups are centralized and operated by a single sequencer.
Taiko took a special strategy, selecting based mostly sequencing (a time period derived from Ethereum’s base layer, to not be confused with Coinbase’s Base L2) regardless of its technical complexity and the UX trade-offs that include prioritizing decentralization over uncooked efficiency. It was a significant design resolution that went in opposition to the business pattern, however one rooted in long-term rules moderately than short-term optimization..
How does Taiko’s ZK EVM deal with edge-case compatibility with Ethereum L1 good contracts? Are there another opcodes or behaviors that deviate or are tough to implement?
 Taiko is a Sort 1 ZK EVM, which suggests it reuses all Ethereum code and infrastructure right down to the opcode degree. This ensures that no code modifications or further audits are required for purposes migrating from Ethereum to Taiko. Different rollups differ, various between Sort 2, Sort 3, and Sort 4 approaches.
How does Taiko guarantee a constant developer expertise and tooling between Alethia and future Gwyneth L2s?
 Alethia, Taiko’s mainnet, was born as a Sort 1 ZK EVM and Gwyneth developed to carefully resemble Sort 1. This makes the developer expertise simple as a result of being Sort 1 means utilizing the identical developer tooling and code as Ethereum.
Nevertheless, Gwyneth is a booster rollup, which is totally different from Alethia. Customers and builders will be capable to entry Layer 1 code and execute it instantly on Layer 2. This implies for some purposes it’s even simpler. There isn’t a want to repeat and paste code or modify RPC configurations.Â
Alethia already presents a seamless developer expertise, and Gwyneth will make it much more accessible.Â
Which failure, whether or not a product launch or technical, stretched your crew probably the most, and what systematic change resulted from it?
Trying again, our largest problem was overemphasizing ecosystem adoption when the know-how wasn’t prepared.
In our first yr after launching mainnet, our consumer expertise was sluggish, a trade-off for our design rules. Regardless of this, we pushed aggressively for ecosystem adoption and succeeded, reaching a peak of 5 million every day transactions for a few months. But it surely got here at a value: intensive incentive campaigns that diluted our token. The lesson? We had been too aggressive too early. Sustainable progress requires the know-how to be prepared earlier than you scale adoption.
Transferring ahead, we are going to focus extra on our present holders, controlling inflation, and inspiring natural adoption. An essential step towards this got here two months in the past once we launched Preconfirmations, an improve that introduced quicker finality and a greater consumer expertise.
What are the present throughput and transactions per second figures underneath life like load, and what are your bottlenecks?
Proper now, we course of about 200,000 transactions per day. This positions us as one of many rollups with the very best exercise, despite the fact that it’s lower than our peak final yr. Given our present design, Taiko is theoretically in a position to course of greater than 1,000 transactions per second. That’s the benchmark we’re working towards.
If a significant regulation relating to blockchain, crypto, or information modifications in your main markets, which product part can be most impacted, and the way prepared are you?
Any main regulation mustn’t change our structure as a result of public blockchains are permissionless infrastructure. Regulatory modifications would have an effect on the purposes builders construct on prime, not the blockchain itself. This is applicable to Ethereum, Taiko, or any public blockchain.
When you might redesign your onboarding course of from scratch, what would you do in a different way? What have you ever discovered about what your customers really want versus what you assumed they wanted?
I’d deal with onboarding the appropriate customers. We initially constructed for broad retail adoption with incentives, however discovered that retail customers prioritize yield and efficiency over decentralization. If I might redo it, I’d design onboarding particularly for the customers who want what based mostly rollups truly provide. We’re seeing that shift now, companies and establishments are becoming a member of as a result of they care about decentralization, credible neutrality, and censorship resistance. That is the perfect marketplace for based mostly rollups, and the timing is lastly proper. I consider this pattern will solely speed up over the following three years.
May you please share Taiko’s roadmap? Are there any new options coming?
We’ll launch the Shasta improve by the tip of 2025. This may make the protocol cheaper and help full ZK protection on our rollup, shifting to Stage 1 and later Stage 2 in L2Beat. ZK proving is dear, however full protection can be potential by year-end. In 2026, we plan to launch Taiko Gwyneth, our synchronous, composable based mostly rollup.
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About The Writer
Victoria is a author on a wide range of know-how matters together with Web3.0, AI and cryptocurrencies. Her intensive expertise permits her to jot down insightful articles for the broader viewers.
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Victoria d’Este
Victoria is a author on a wide range of know-how matters together with Web3.0, AI and cryptocurrencies. Her intensive expertise permits her to jot down insightful articles for the broader viewers.
