Vitalik Buterin published a new vision for the Etherak Consensus Layer, with the aim of condensing the situation of the certificationer on the chain to very low levels. According to his description, the core of the programme, known as “Extremely Lean Etheneum”, was to move a large amount of data out of the chain to zero-knowledge certification for validation, thereby reducing the full node burden and providing space for more certifiers to access.
Two-stage compressor status
The programme first addresses the data structure of the Beacon Chain certifier. In the first phase, the balance was not updated on an ongoing basis per epoch, but instead, the certification was submitted by the certifying officer on a daily basis with ZK-STARK proof that the rewards and penalties were correctly calculated using smaller data. It is envisaged that this will compress the state of the chain of individual certifiers to about 6 bytes.
Buterin's idea is to leave more computing to the certifier to keep the base as low as possible. As a result, there will be a significant reduction in the data to be tracked at the full node, and a much closer to “light” mode of operation in the Taipei.
Second stage, add an anonymous certifier key
The second phase further adapts the authentication mechanism. Each certifier will obtain new anonymous keys and identities on a daily basis and re-register and reprove the balance within the new cycle. This means that the pool of certifiers will rotate more frequently and that it will be more difficult for external observers to track the activities of the same certifier over the long term.
In addition to state compression and privacy, the road map includes two objectives: first, the finality of a single cell, i.e., that the transaction is expected to be irreversibly confirmed within a single block; and second, design based on the retrogression of the STARK certificate of resistance to quantum code. The latter reflects an advance preparation for the calculation of risk in future Quantums at the Taifeng research level.
Studying community support directions but demanding speed
The community as a whole supported this direction but was not satisfied with the timetable. The StarkWare co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson endorses the retrogression STARK being placed in a more central position and supports the prioritization of quantum security, but considers the three to four-year propulsion cycle to be too long.
Dankrad Feist, a researcher who worked with the Taifung Foundation, also stated that this scenario, if it landed, could lead to a faster final transaction and higher throughput, but he agreed that progress was slow and suggested that the development cycle might be shortened by the AI tool and large language model.
Barnabé Monnot, a researcher of the ETA Foundation, mentioned that, compared to the February version of this year, the latest road map has moved the production of some blocks back up, while raising the priority of the consensus layer retrofitting and removing some of the functions previously proposed. According to him, such a trade-off could help to achieve final confirmation and greater resistance.
After Hegota or on the Lean route
Buterin says that the upcoming Hegota upgrade could be the last major fork before the beginning of the Lean era. Since then, the focus of the development of the ITA is expected to be more centred on the road map.
At the same time, the Etherak Foundation is undergoing organizational contraction and internal adjustments. Two emerging non-profit institutions, Ethereum Instituteal and EthLabs, are trying to take over some of the agency ' s coordination and agreement development work. It was mentioned that these two institutions were supported by Bitmine, Sharlink and Joseph Lubin.
From the information currently disclosed, the programme is still at the research and routing stage, with a longer cycle to the real landing. However, the ETA study has clearly shifted to how to implement more quickly, rather than simply discussing whether to follow this path.