Vitalik Buterin: Hegotá Upgrade May Be Last Normal Fork Before Ethereum's Quantum Leap

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the upcoming Hegotá upgrade could be the network's last 'normal' fork before it transitions to more advanced technologies. He stated that Hegotá, scheduled for 2027, would likely be the final upgrade whose features and technology would still be recognizable to someone familiar with Ethereum in 2015.

The transition, according to Buterin, marks Ethereum's evolution from a simple blockchain into a 'cryptographic world computer'. This shift involves moving beyond the traditional model of nodes downloading and re-executing transactions, towards an architecture combining blockchains with cryptographic verification, privacy, and decentralized offchain components.

Ethereum researcher Barnabé Monnot agreed that moving computation offchain could significantly reduce the network's workload and enable lighter nodes. However, he argued that a 'world computer' should still keep important records onchain to allow users to see what is happening and interact with applications directly.