IMHO, L2Beat's/Vitalik's Stages are incomplete. For Stage 2, in addition, 

- Alternate sequencing triggered within 1 epoch (i.e. 6.4 minutes). Currently, Optimism is 12 hours, which is not acceptable (preferably, there's real-time distributed sequencing) 
- Security council has pause rights only; upgrades even for onchain provable bugs must go through governance, emergency path with >X% approval

Then, there should be an optional Stage 3, or Stage X, where:

- Based or based-like sequencing is mandated
- Security council is dissolved
- Smart contracts upgrades require >Y% (80%?) approval from the protocol's full governance, in addition to >30d delay

For big-tent high-value L2s like Arbitrum One, Stage 3 should be the target. For most, Stage 2 should be perfectly fine, and even Stage 1 enough for many lower-value app-specific L2s.

In the past, I've mentioned many times that upgrade rights to Security Council are not good enough for Stage 1, and that they should only come with freeze or pause rights. That's why I cannot recommend anyone use Arbitrum One or OP Mainnet despite being Stage 1 according to L2Beat. Glad to see that is the case for ZKSync. In addition, I'd like to see an elected Security Council for Stage 1, a unilaterally selected Security Council is also not good enough. (E.g. OP just held its first elections, hope ZKSync will do so soon) 

I have also expressed my opinion on some aspects of Stage 2 being not good enough, you can see that here: https://warpcast.com/polynya/0x6131e8f0

(Disclaimer: I hold some $ZK tokens and am a delegate for both ZK Nation and OP Collective)

In the past, I've mentioned many times that upgrade rights to Security Council are not good enough for Stage 1, and that they should only come with freeze or pause rights. That's why I cannot recommend anyone use Arbitrum One or OP Mainnet despite being Stage 1 according to L2Beat. Glad to see that is the case for ZKSync. In addition, I'd like to see an elected Security Council for Stage 1, a unilaterally selected Security Council is also not good enough. (E.g. OP just held its first elections, hope ZKSync will do so soon) 

I have also expressed my opinion on some aspects of Stage 2 being not good enough, you can see that here: https://warpcast.com/polynya/0x6131e8f0

(Disclaimer: I hold some $ZK tokens and am a delegate for both ZK Nation and OP Collective) 

https://x.com/TheZKNation/status/1834256567316705674

I completely agree with your stance on the Security Council structure for Stage 1 and 2 networks. Upgrade rights should indeed come with freeze or pause rights for added security. An elected council is crucial for true decentralization. Looking forward to seeing further improvements from ZKSync and others.