Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has presented an updated network development roadmap called Lean Ethereum. He compares the significance of this iteration to the transition to Proof-of-Stake (The Merge). This involves a fundamental restructuring of the protocol that will affect virtually every key component of the network.
Lean Ethereum is not a one-time update, but a set of improvements that will be implemented over three to four years. The new roadmap was published after a meeting of Ethereum researchers in Berlin, continuing April discussions with development teams.
What will change in Ethereum
Key changes will affect almost all major network components. Transaction verification will shift to recursive STARK proofs instead of direct re-execution. All elements vulnerable to quantum computing will be replaced with quantum-resistant alternatives.
Buterin specifically highlighted the priority of privacy. According to him, it has ceased to be a secondary task and has become a primary goal: when designing new components, developers directly ask how private transactions pass through them without intermediaries.
Buterin also emphasized the increased priority of quantum security. This adds a lot of work—for example, finalizing the quantum-resistant design for blobs, which the team has been working on for several months, has become urgent.
Additionally, formal verification of all components for security, a multidimensional fee (gas) model, and changes to client architecture are planned. According to Buterin, all of this will be done with minimal disruption to existing applications.
The most controversial change and scaling plans
Buterin called the changes to working with the network state the most radical part of the plan. Consensus is forming around one approach: the current state type will be left almost unchanged and will grow moderately. At the same time, new state types will be added—they scale much better but are not suitable for all tasks.
As an example, the Ethereum founder cited a possible network configuration by 2030: 2 TB of the current state type and 100 TB of the new state type. The new format will be well-suited for ERC20 tokens, NFTs, and many DeFi scenarios, but not for complex "central" objects like Uniswap contracts or on-chain order books.
According to Buterin, rewriting applications is not mandatory, but it will be very beneficial. For example, moving an ERC20 token to the new storage type could reduce fees by more than ten times.
Buterin added that over the next five years, there will be repeated increases in the gas limit, growth in the number of blobs, and a reduction in block time. A major gas limit increase is expected with the Glasterdam update. Each scaling step, he said, depends on when it becomes safe to implement.
Analyst comment: Lean Ethereum is an ambitious step that could radically change the network's economy. Reducing fees by an order of magnitude for ERC20 and NFTs could attract a new influx of users and liquidity, but implementing such a large-scale restructuring will require flawless coordination and could take years. If the plan is executed, Ethereum will strengthen its position as a platform for mass adoption.