Ethereum roadmap targets three-year protocol overhaul

• Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a three-to-four-year plan to redesign most of the blockchain's core infrastructure.
• The proposal prioritises quantum resistance, privacy and faster transaction finality through major protocol upgrades.
• Buterin said the roadmap would guide Ethereum's next long-term development phase following the 2022 Merge.

Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a three-to-four-year roadmap that would replace most of the blockchain's core infrastructure, with quantum resistance and privacy forming key design priorities.

The proposal, called Lean Ethereum, follows discussions among Ethereum researchers in Berlin and outlines changes including STARK-based transaction verification, one- or two-round transaction finality and multidimensional gas pricing.

“Privacy is no longer an afterthought; it is a first-class goal,” said Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Buterin also proposed replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine with alternatives such as RISC-V or leanISA, introducing new state architectures and using zero-knowledge proofs to provide daily validator re-anonymisation while strengthening quantum resistance across the protocol.

The roadmap represents Ethereum's next proposed development phase after the 2022 Merge, although some developers have questioned whether the three-to-four-year timetable is achievable, and as Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) is a cryptocurrency there is no share price available.

The proposal follows budget reductions at the Ethereum Foundation, which announced in June that it would reduce spending by 40% and cut about 20% of its workforce, eliminating 54 positions.

Critics have argued that replacing Ethereum's consensus, execution and state layers within a single multi-year programme could prove challenging given the network's history of delayed protocol upgrades.

At the time of reporting, Ethereum price was $1,798.41.