Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder, has outlined an ambitious vision for Ethereum’s future in a recent blog post. Dubbed “The Surge,” the next phase of Ethereum’s roadmap aims to push transaction speeds (TPS) beyond 100,000, both on the Ethereum mainnet and its layer-2 (L2) solutions. Additionally, Buterin aims to enhance interoperability between these L2 blockchains.
Ethereum’s Surge: Aiming for 100,000+ TPS
The primary goal of the Surge is to achieve over 100,000 TPS across Ethereum and its L2s, making Ethereum faster and more scalable than ever before. Buterin emphasized that these improvements would make Ethereum function as a unified ecosystem, rather than a fragmented network of competing chains.
Buterin lauded the progress of Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap, which was bolstered by the Dencun upgrade earlier this year. This upgrade, which included both the Shanghai and Cancun-Dened updates, introduced critical scaling improvements, such as “blobs” that reduce data costs and lower L2 transaction fees.
However, Buterin acknowledged that the rollup approach also brought its own set of challenges, with critics pointing to security risks and concerns over L2s drawing users away from Ethereum’s mainnet.
Addressing Scaling and Trustless Rollups
To fully realize Ethereum’s potential, Buterin identified several key areas for development. These include data availability sampling, better data compression, and improving the trustless nature of L2 networks. He noted that Ethereum rollups still need to evolve to become as trustless as the Ethereum mainnet to allow for more secure and scalable solutions.
Additionally, Buterin expressed the importance of scaling the Ethereum base layer (L1) to keep up with increasing demand. While one solution could be increasing Ethereum’s gas limit, this could lead to centralization risks due to higher costs for stakers. Instead, Buterin proposed exploring other improvements, such as “multidimensional” gas pricing and optimizing gas costs for specific operations.
Enhancing User Experience Across Layer-2 Networks
Another critical focus for Buterin is improving the user experience across Ethereum’s L2 networks. He emphasized that users should not have to deal with the complexities of bridging tokens or manually swapping them into native tokens to pay for gas. By streamlining communication between L2s, Buterin envisions an Ethereum ecosystem where users can easily transfer tokens across different chains without friction.
These improvements are necessary to make the Ethereum L2 ecosystem feel like a seamless part of the broader Ethereum network, rather than a collection of disconnected chains.
The Evolution of Ethereum’s Rollup-Centric Roadmap
Ethereum’s development initially followed the ETH 2.0 roadmap, which aimed to scale the network monolithically through sharding. However, in 2020, Buterin shifted gears and abandoned sharding in favor of a rollup-centric approach, which takes computation off the main chain but retains its security.
With rollups now at the center of Ethereum’s future, Buterin highlighted the need to complete this roadmap while maintaining the core values of robustness and decentralization that make Ethereum’s L1 unique.
Conclusion: Ethereum’s Path to the Future
Buterin’s plans for Ethereum signal a transformative period for the blockchain, with scalability, security, and user experience at the forefront. As Ethereum continues to evolve, the implementation of the Surge promises to make the network faster, more secure, and easier to use, positioning Ethereum as a leading force in the future of decentralized technology.
