News

May 05, 2023

Ethereum $ETH Blockchain's Vitalik Buterin Releases Roadmap Addressing Scaling, Privacy, Wallet Security

Vitalik Buterin shares a new blog post on Ethereum's roadmap to address scaling,

Vitalik Buterin shares a new blog post on Ethereum's roadmap to address scaling, privacy, and wallet security. (CoinDesk)

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin laid out a new roadmap for the network to follow over the next few years, arguing that the world's second-biggest blockchain should push forward on key goals of layer 2 scaling, wallet security and privacy in a coordinated fashion.

In a blog post titled "the Three Transitions," Buterin wrote that the technical transitions need to be addressed simultaneously, to maintain key components of the protocol while providing a "global and permissionless experience to average users."

"These three transitions are crucial," Buterin wrote in the blog post. "But they are also challenging because of the intense coordination involved to properly resolve them."

The first component, layer 2 scaling, is crucial as Buterin argues that if Ethereum fails on this front, "every product aiming for the mass market inevitably forgets about the chain and adopts centralized workarounds for everything."

Ethereum has seen massive growth over the past few months in terms of the number of layer 2 networks, with ZK rollups released by Polygon and Matter Labs.

Ethereum is set later this year to undergo a major upgrade known as Dencun thatwill include a technical feature known as proto-danksharding, aiming to help make rollups cheaper.

The second component, wallet security, which involves moving all users wallets over to smart contract wallets, Buterin argues is needed so that users are comfortable with storing their cryptocurrency payments and data on-chain, otherwise they move over to centralized entities.

Buterin also suggests that the final component, privacy, is crucial otherwise "Ethereum fails," as users will have all their on-chain activity visible to the public.

"It's not just features of the protocol that need to improve; in some cases, the way that we interact with Ethereum needs to change pretty fundamentally, requiring deep changes from applications and wallets," Buterin writes.

Read more: Ethereum's Buterin Proposes 'Stealth Addresses' to Enhance Privacy Protections

Edited by Bradley Keoun.

DISCLOSURE

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.

Margaux Nijkerk reports on blockchain protocols with a focus on the Ethereum ecosystem. A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Emory universities, she has a masters in International Affairs & Economics. She holds a very small amount of ETH and other altcoins.

Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.