Vitalik Buterin published an updated long-term road map for the Ethera, which is called the largest re-engineering of the network since the merger was completed in 2022. According to him, in the next three to four years, almost all major protocol components of the Taifeng will be gradually replaced, but the existing applications need not be displaced.

The authentication will be adjusted

One of the core changes in the programme, known as “Lean Ethereum”, is the certification of the chain. It is envisaged that each node will no longer be required to repeat each transaction in the future, but rather to validate the chain through a compact certificate generated by STARK. Buterin wants to place such zero-knowledge proof directly at the heart of the agreement.

He also mentioned that the future consensus process could be further streamlined, moving forward towards one or two final rounds of confirmation. At the same time, the network may introduce multi-dimensional gas pricing and explore, at a further stage, a command set from EVM to a similar RISSC-V.

Privacy and resistance are advanced.

Buterin states that the antiquantium safety has been significantly advanced to the Etherak development agenda. Password components that are likely to be affected by quantum computing will be gradually replaced by antiquator programmes. The blob study related to the antiquant has also advanced for months.

Privacy has also been put forward. According to his presentation, privacy is no longer an additional function but is directly integrated into the design of basic modules such as memory pools, status trees, etc. The entire upgrading process will also rely on formal validation to reduce the risks associated with the agreement adjustment.

Storage structure or greater change

A more dynamic part of the road map is the future data storage structure of the Taifeng. Buterin envisages that, by 2030, it will be possible to carry at the same time the existing “dynamic” state of about 2TB and the new state storage of about 100 TB. The latter are more extensive but more restrictive.

In his view, such new storage would be more appropriate for tokens, NFTs and most DeFi scenarios, but not necessarily for more complex contracts such as going to the Centralized Exchange. In the case of the ERC-20, the projecter does not need to relocate to the new structure, but if rewritten to the new storage, there is an opportunity to reduce costs more than tenfold.

The upgrade won't be done at once.

Buterin indicates that these changes will not be synchronized. As it stands, the forthcoming Hegotá fork may be the last fork before the beginning of the “Lean” era, while a more recent Glamsterdam upgrade is expected to raise the gas ceiling and continue to increase network capacity and speed for about five years.

The new road map was launched at a time when the ETA Foundation itself was in a contraction phase and had recently been laid off and its budget tightened. At the same time, the past upgrades of the Etherfrog have also been delayed on several occasions, meaning that this round of major upgrades will continue to face a longer implementation cycle.