At the end of June 2026, the Ethereum Foundation team unveiled a long-term technological development plan for the blockchain, spanning until 2029. This updated concept, dubbed Lean Ethereum, is not merely a set of targeted improvements but a full-scale architectural transformation comparable in scope to the transition to Proof-of-Stake (The Merge). As a leading analyst, I consider this document one of the most significant events for the ecosystem in recent years, as it touches upon virtually all key components of the network.
The plan, also known in the community as the "strawmap," was presented by foundation researcher Justin Drake and later commented on by network co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The initiative's implementation will take three to four years and aims to accelerate the blockchain, reduce fees, enhance anonymity, and protect against quantum threats. To achieve this, developers intend to significantly modify or replace nearly all key elements of the system.
Five "Guiding Stars" of the New Roadmap
At the core of Lean Ethereum lie five key goals, which developers have called "guiding stars":
- Accelerating the base layer. A slot in Ethereum is currently created in 12 seconds, with confirmation taking about 16 minutes. A phased reduction is planned: first to 8 seconds, then to 6, 4, and possibly 2 seconds.
- Increasing L1 throughput. The goal is to raise it to ~10,000 TPS through the implementation of zkEVM and real-time proof generation.
- Scaling L2. The target is set at the "teragas" level, equivalent to approximately 10 million TPS. This will become possible thanks to a new approach to data availability.
- Implementing post-quantum protection. Traditional mathematical problems will be replaced by hash-based solutions, more resistant to attacks from quantum computers.
- Privacy. Developers intend to introduce hidden ETH transfers, allowing users to send funds without revealing transaction details on the public blockchain.
A key element of the restructuring will be the new consensus mechanism, Minimmit, which should speed up finalization time by 120 times — from 16 minutes to 8 seconds.
Glamsterdam and Hegota: Upcoming Upgrades
After The Merge, Ethereum upgrades receive compound names combining a city and a star. The next in this chain are Glamsterdam and Hegota. The first hard fork is expected in the second half of 2026. Its main components are ePBS (a mechanism that separates block creation and confirmation tasks) and Block-Level Access Lists (BAL), which determine what data is needed to process a specific block. The goal is to increase the gas limit, reduce costs, and combat MEV. The Hegota upgrade, according to Buterin, will likely be the last "before the Lean era" and will focus on improving scalability and optimizing data management.
Cryptography, Consensus, and Speed
One of the most notable changes is replacing the classic transaction verification mechanism with recursive STARK proofs. This system will become the network's basic computational component, eliminating the need for direct re-execution of operations by every node. Confidentiality has been elevated to a top priority: developers are embedding the capability for protected transfers already at the design stage of the mempool and other components. Privacy must be combined with post-quantum protection, which may affect account signatures, validator signatures, BLOB objects, and part of ZK systems. The transition to quantum-resistant algorithms is planned to be completed by 2029, with the SPHINCS- method proposed as an interim solution, allowing accounts to be secured for $0.07 without the need for a full-scale hard fork.
Contentious Part: State Storage Restructuring
Buterin called the restructuring of state storage the most radical part of the plan. The idea is to preserve the familiar dynamic state but add new types of storage designed for much larger volumes alongside it. By 2030, the picture could look like this: about 2 TB of old-type state and up to 100 TB of new-type state. This would suit ERC-20 tokens, NFTs, and many DeFi scenarios, but not complex objects like Uniswap contracts. Moving a token to a new storage scheme via UTXO, according to Buterin's estimate, would reduce fees by more than ten times. However, the question of incentives for storing the growing volume of data remains open — this topic has been set aside as a separate research direction.
Community Reaction and Prospects
The crypto industry has generally received the plan positively. StarkWare co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson praised the focus on recursive STARKs and quantum security but called the timeline too long. Former Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist suggested completing it within roughly a year, pointing to AI tools as a possible accelerator. However, some ETH holders view the situation differently: they are concerned about rising fees, staking yields, and the asset's price. In Reddit discussions, fatigue is evident from the abundance of plans while basic problems persist.
My expert assessment: Lean Ethereum sets a clear and ambitious development direction, but its success will depend on the team's ability to meet deadlines and effectively solve the validator incentive problem. The promise to reduce fees tenfold and speed up finalization is exactly what the market expects, but the effect will manifest gradually, fork by fork. The main question is whether Ethereum can restructure its cryptography before real quantum threats emerge, and whether users will feel the difference before this multi-year plan is completed.