Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has laid out a new technical roadmap for the network, dubbed the “Lean Ethereum” strawmap. In a social media post on Saturday, Buterin identified quantum resistance, scalability, and privacy as the top three priorities for Ethereum’s development over the next several years.
The strawmap outlines upgrades rolling out between 2026 and 2029. Buterin compared the scale of this transformation to the September 2022 Merge, which transitioned Ethereum from energy-intensive mining to proof-of-stake. He said the changes would touch nearly every layer of Ethereum.
Quantum safety becomes urgent
Buterin emphasized that quantum safety has shifted up significantly in priority. He noted that finalizing a quantum-safe solution for blobs has become urgent. Enhancing privacy is also now a first-class goal, he added.
The shift in roadmap comes amid a series of organizational changes at the Ethereum Foundation. The foundation laid off about 20% of its staff last month and reduced its budget by 40%. Several executives have also departed in recent months, including Hsiao-Wei Wang, Tomasz Stańczak, and protocol contributors Tim Beiko and Barnabé Monnot.
Buterin is also pushing for the development of a new virtual machine, possibly based on leanISA or RISC-V, to support programmable privacy and better scalability.
Questions over Buterin’s timeline
Dankrad Feist, a researcher behind the payments-focused layer-1 blockchain Tempo, praised the plan but argued that the three-to-four-year timeline is too slow. He suggested that AI could help developers ship the upgrades within a year.
Crypto analyst Ignas Fiodorovas was also in favor of the plan but cast doubt on the Ethereum Foundation’s ability to deliver on time. He pointed to the organization’s history of missing deadlines. Fiodorovas said the only key feature missing from the roadmap was improved tokenomics for Ether (ETH), which has continued to slide in price amid a broader market downturn.
The strawmap represents a leaner approach for Ethereum, both in technical direction and organizational structure. But whether the foundation can stick to the timeline remains an open question.
