Ethereum's Future: Proofs Over Speed in Post-Hegota Roadmap
Ethereum's future is taking shape, and it's looking more like a computer that proves its work rather than just a faster blockchain. According to Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's next big redesign will focus on cheaper proofs, shorter settlement times, and more private computation. This shift is part of the post-Hegota roadmap, which will move more work into proofs, shorter slots, and fewer on-chain signatures.
Buterin expects Hegota, planned for 2027, to be Ethereum's last 'normal' fork, meaning it will be the final upgrade built mainly with technology familiar to an Ethereum developer working in 2015. The next phase pulls in the multi-year Lean Ethereum upgrade series, which Buterin said would replace almost every major part of the protocol.
One key example of this shift is already live: PeerDAS, which lets validators sample blob data rather than downloading every part of it. Buterin expects this coverage to expand to full block contents.