Vitalik Buterin Outlines Ethereum’s Future Roadmap
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, presented a detailed roadmap at the Japan Developer Conference. The plan covers short, medium, and long-term goals focused on scalability, privacy, and security.
Scaling and Layer 2 Integration
The main goal is to scale Ethereum’s Layer 1 (L1) without losing decentralization. This will be achieved by increasing the Gas limit to allow more computation per block. Key technologies like ZK-EVMs will improve L1 performance and capacity.
Ethereum also aims to unify its fragmented Layer 2 networks. This will create a seamless user experience by enabling trustless asset transfers and faster block finality using protocols like 3SF. The network will also use erasure coding to optimize data storage and transmission.
Enhancing Privacy on Ethereum
Privacy is a major focus in the roadmap. Ethereum plans to protect both transaction data (“write privacy”) and user queries (“read privacy”). The approach includes zero-knowledge proofs, anonymous fund pools, and mix networks to hide user identities and transaction details.
AI Integration and Long-Term Security
The Ethereum Foundation has launched a new “dAI Team” to develop Ethereum as the main settlement layer for AI and the machine economy. This team will build a decentralized AI stack and promote a secure, censorship-resistant platform for AI agents to transact.
Long-term priorities include:
- Quantum Resistance: Preparing Ethereum against future quantum computer attacks.
- Formal Verification: Applying mathematical methods to ensure protocol security.
- Advanced Cryptography: Adopting cutting-edge hashing, signature, and zero-knowledge proof techniques.
