Ethereum's 'Lean' Plan Aims to Simplify Network From the Ground Up

Ethereum is on the cusp of its biggest change since the Merge, and this one will touch almost every aspect of the network. Vitalik Buterin has outlined a three to four year plan called Lean Ethereum, which he describes as the network's third major iteration.

The core idea behind Lean Ethereum is to strip back the base layer, replacing some existing machinery with simpler and more powerful primitives, and pushing scaling work to Layer 2 networks. The most significant change on the roadmap involves moving towards proof-based verification using recursive STARKs.

This new approach will make verification lighter and help the network stay decentralized as it scales, because running a node becomes less demanding. A cheaper, more scalable state tier will be introduced alongside the existing system, allowing simpler applications to migrate voluntarily.