Summary
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Buterin Proposes 5-Year Simplification Plan: Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a vision to significantly simplify Ethereum’s base layer protocol over the next five years, aiming for Bitcoin-like efficiency, security, and resilience.
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Key Areas for Change: The proposed simplification focuses on restructuring Ethereum’s consensus layer (e.g., using “3-slot finality”), potentially replacing the EVM execution layer with a simpler, ZK-friendly VM (like RISC-V), and adopting protocol-wide standards for elements like serialization and tree structures.
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Motivation: Reduce Complexity and Improve Competitiveness: This effort aims to combat issues arising from past technical complexity (like higher costs and bug risks) and comes at a time when Ethereum faces increasing market share competition from other Layer-1 blockchains.
Goal: Achieve Bitcoin-Like Simplicity for Enhanced Efficiency and Security
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a roadmap to substantially reduce the complexity of Ethereum‘s foundational protocol within the next five years.
Drawing inspiration from Bitcoin’s leaner design, Buterin argues that simplifying the network’s core is crucial for improving efficiency, bolstering security, and making Ethereum more accessible and resilient for long-term scalability.
In a May 3 blog post titled “Simplifying the L1,” Buterin detailed potential restructuring across Ethereum’s consensus mechanism, execution environment, and shared components.
He acknowledged that while recent advancements like the transition to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and the integration of zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) have strengthened the network, the accompanying technical complexity has inflated development timelines, increased operational costs, and heightened the risk of software bugs.
Buterin admitted that past decisions, including some of his own, contributed to these challenges by sometimes pursuing benefits that ultimately proved insubstantial.
Proposed Consensus Layer Modifications
A primary area targeted for simplification is the consensus layer.
A key proposal involves implementing a “3-slot finality” model.
This change would remove intricate elements currently used, such as epochs, dedicated sync committees, and complex validator shuffling processes.
Buterin suggests this simplification, by reducing the number of concurrently active validators, would make it safer to utilize less complex implementations of the rules determining the canonical chain (fork choice rules).
Additional consensus improvements mentioned include adopting more straightforward fork choice rules and utilizing STARK-based aggregation protocols to simplify network coordination and enhance decentralization.
Revamping the Execution Environment
On the execution side, Buterin suggested migrating away from the current Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
He proposed adopting a simpler virtual machine optimized for zero-knowledge proofs, such as RISC-V.
RISC-V, known for its open-source nature and minimalist instruction set architecture (ISA), could potentially offer significant performance enhancements (up to 100x) for ZK proofs and considerably streamline the protocol itself.
To maintain compatibility with existing applications, Buterin floated the idea of running legacy EVM contracts within an on-chain RISC-V interpreter, potentially supporting both virtual machines during a transitional period.
Advocating for Protocol-Wide Standardization
Buterin also stressed the need for greater standardization across the protocol.
He recommended adopting singular methods for essential functions like erasure coding, data serialization (expressing a preference for SSZ), and cryptographic tree structures.
This unification aims to eliminate redundant complexity and make Ethereum’s tooling and associated infrastructure more streamlined and easier to manage.
Linking simplicity conceptually to decentralization, Buterin proposed establishing a target maximum line count for core consensus code, similar to practices in projects like Tinygrad, ensuring critical logic remains lean and easily auditable.
Under this vision, non-essential legacy features would be maintained but moved outside the core protocol specification.
Context: Competitive Landscape
This call for simplification arises as Ethereum faces increasing competition from other blockchain networks vying for market share.
Notably, during a recent industry event, Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik commented on Ethereum’s waning dominance relative to other Layer-1 platforms, stating that expectations from several years ago about Ethereum’s market leadership have not fully materialized.
Also Read: Vitalik Buterin Outlines Strategic Priorities for Ethereum Towards 2025
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