Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has called for a major reset of the blockchain’s design, warning that the network’s growing complexity threatens its long-term success.
In a detailed new proposal, he outlined a roadmap that aims to strip Ethereum down to its essentials and make it more sustainable—starting with overhauling its core architecture.
Buterin believes Ethereum has lost sight of simplicity, attempting to do too much while piling on technical debt. To fix that, he’s advocating a streamlined consensus model and a complete rewrite of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
He proposes replacing the current structure with a cleaner system using RISC-V, a minimal virtual machine already used in zero-knowledge projects, which he claims could drastically reduce bugs and improve developer access.
He also called for merging redundant tools and switching to more efficient cryptographic and data-handling methods—like unified erasure coding and binary Merkle trees—to improve performance and scalability across the network.
Ultimately, Buterin envisions Ethereum evolving into a leaner, more efficient platform capable of handling its ambitions in finance, identity, and beyond. The message is clear: if Ethereum wants to lead the next phase of the internet, it has to stop patching the old and start building smarter.
Development trends across major blockchain networks show Cardano pulling ahead in core contributions, while Ethereum continues to dominate the broader ecosystem despite a drop in participation.
Ink, the Layer-2 network incubated by Kraken and built on Optimism’s Superchain framework, is suddenly buzzing with on-chain activity.
Solana is making its next major move—this time, not through memecoins, but national partnerships.
Lion Group Holding Ltd. has raised $600 million from investment firm ATW Partners to fuel a major shift into decentralized finance.