Ethereum Roadmap Shifts Focus to Quantum Safety and Post-Quantum Scaling

Ethereum's roadmap has undergone significant changes since its initial plan in 2023. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, recently overlaid his updated roadmap onto the Ethereum Foundation's current strawman, highlighting key shifts.

The most notable change is the prioritization of quantum safety. In contrast to the original 2023 plan, Buterin has moved quantum safety up the queue. Additionally, verifiable delay functions (VDFs) and many Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) improvement works have been deprioritized, while Verkle trees and state expiry were dropped in favor of new constructions.

The updated roadmap also focuses on post-quantum scaling and native rollups, which were not mentioned in the original 2023 plan. Buterin emphasized that privacy is now receiving 'first-class attention,' encompassing keyed nonces, recent roots, lean privacy pools, wormholes, and parts of FOCIL (fork-choice enforced inclusion lists). Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of cryptographic proofs called STARKs and the use of artificial intelligence to verify the protocol's code.

The strawman, a draft plan for upgrading Ethereum's base layer, outlines seven network upgrades by 2029. It sets five 'north star' targets: transactions confirmed in seconds, 10,000 transactions per second using zero-knowledge proofs (zkEVMs), 10 million transactions per second on Layer 2 networks, quantum-resistant cryptography, and shielded transfers.

Buterin noted that some items were reshuffled or deprioritized, while others were replaced with superior constructions. He emphasized the importance of formal verification and AI-accelerated tools to ensure the correctness of critical proofs. The updated roadmap assumes the protocol will expose an instruction set architecture (ISA) other than the EVM, potentially using lean ISA or RISC-V.

The state-side change involves new state types replacing state expiry, offering a 'fundamentally different paradigm' for scaling. Buterin also highlighted two themes: restrictive designs that optimize specific use cases and the dependence on recursive STARKs for critical proofs.