Looking ahead to 2026, there's one prediction I'd put real money on: at least one Layer 2 will shut down.

Right now we're sitting at 129 live L2s—probably closer to 150 if you count everything in development. But here's the uncomfortable truth: almost none of them are actually profitable.

The numbers tell the story. Only two L2s—Base and Arbitrum—are pulling in seven-figure monthly revenue. Everyone else? The majority are stuck below five figures. Some barely cracking six figures annually. Think about the infrastructure costs, the developer salaries, the marketing spend. The math just doesn't work for most projects.

This isn't pessimism. It's inevitable market consolidation. The L2 space has been living on VC hype and rollup buzz. When reality sets in—when users and TVL concentration continues flowing to the networks that actually move the needle—smaller players will face a hard choice: merge, pivot, or fade.

The winners are consolidating. The rest are watching their runways shrink.