The Ethereum Foundation's protocol team published a long-term upgrade blueprint called the 'strawmap.' Researcher Justin Drake shared the visual plan on X, projecting roughly seven forks by 2029 at a pace of one upgrade every six months. ETH price reacted positively, climbing to $2,068 in 24 hours, with a daily high of $2,122.
Five Core Targets: Speed, Scale, Security, Privacy
The roadmap sets five long-term goals: L1 transaction finality within seconds, replacing current multi-minute waits; network throughput of 1 gigagas per second to handle higher concurrency; high-throughput L2 scaling via data availability sampling; post-quantum cryptography to resist future quantum computer threats; and native privacy-preserving ETH transfers hiding sender, receiver, and amounts.
What Is the Strawmap and Why It Matters
The strawmap is not a formal roadmap but a visual framework that places all L1 upgrade proposals on one canvas. Unlike All Core Devs discussions or fork-trackers that usually cover only the next few forks, this map spans several years, helping the community understand upgrade dependencies and long-term technical priorities. Drake described it as 'an invitation to view L1 protocol upgrades through a holistic lens.'
Key Features: Scalability and Quantum-Resistance
L1 second-level finality will drastically improve UX for DeFi and NFTs; 1 gigagas/sec means the network can handle multiple times more activity without congestion. High-throughput L2 relies on data availability sampling—a technique for verifying large amounts of sidechain data efficiently without compromising security. Post-quantum cryptography under exploration includes STARK-based solutions, while native privacy transfers leverage zero-knowledge proofs for 'public sends, secret receivers.'
Origin: EF Workshop in January 2026
The strawmap originated from an Ethereum Foundation internal workshop in January 2026, aiming to bridge lean Ethereum ideas with existing short-term initiatives. Researchers discussed upgrade dependencies and fork constraints, which evolved into this long-term planning reference. Drake stated that sharing early ideas publicly aims to foster developer feedback, research collaboration, and faster iteration.