The prominent Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, who also acts as a figurehead for the smart contract platform, revealed his vision for the leading blockchain project at this year’s Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Paris. Buterin currently sees Ethereum at a turning point, which will significantly influence the further development of the network.
In the short term, these plans look like this: The top priority for the Ethereum BOSS is the development of a user-friendly light client, which can be used by default for the consensus layer, the execution layer and layer 2 solutions. Buterin also wants better support for retail investors who want to participate in staking the large blockchain network with less than 32 ethers. Last but not least, a full node of the platform must also be able to be operated with significantly weaker hardware, so it is important to optimize here.
In the long term, Buterin wants to improve the cryptographic basis of the Ethereum blockchain in order to make it secure against quantum computing for the future. Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (zk-EVMs) would also have to be integrated more extensively if they prove to be a sensible solution. In general, the leader says: “We have to be open to new things, because we never know what will be in demand in 2032.“
At the same time, the Ethereum co-founder also leaked which current developments he is rather skeptical about. For example, he rejects overly complex virtual machines, black box technologies such as zk-SNARKs and a generally too high complexity of the blockchain protocol, because then it would only be usable by specialists.
Ethereum is currently on the home stretch for the merge or the long-awaited switch to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus procedure. Although this step has been being worked on for more than two years, many observers are still skeptical whether the planned upgrade will go as smoothly as planned.
Vitalik Buterin gives his speech at the EthCC / Source: Cointelegraph Events Manager Maria A.
