On Thursday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared his long-term vision for the eponymous blockchain live at the annual Ethereum Community Conference, or EthCC, in Paris. According to Buterin, Ethereum is currently at a tipping point, or period of rapid change, before the capacity of the ecosystem finally settles.
Currently, Ethereum’s top priority is to build a lightweight and easy-to-use client for the consensus layer, execution layer, and default layer two solutions. Next is better support for “home stakers” or those who want to validate network transactions when Ethereum becomes a “proof-of-stake” blockchain but holds less than the required 32 Ether. Lastly, Buterin believes it is critical that Ethereum can eventually run on a full node with lighter hardware.
As for the long-term roadmap, Buterin plans to update Ethereum with better crypto technologies, potentially for quantum resistance, if they come to light, and further integrate with zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machines, or zk- EVMs do work. “We also have to keep an open mind,” says Buterin. “We don’t know exactly what the needs of 2032 will demand.”
But the Ethereum co-founder also shared his skepticism about some other potential opportunities. Among them, adding support for multiple and complex virtual machines, accommodating too much to black box type technologies, such as zk-SNARK, or making the protocol too complex to the point of making it incomprehensible as a whole without the help of specialists. Ethereum is about to make its transition to proof-of-stake, known as “Merge”. Despite being over two years in the making, some developers remain skeptical that there will be a safe transition.
Vitalik Buterin speaking at the EthCC | Source: Maria A., Cointelegraph Events Manager
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