Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has unveiled a multi-year roadmap that places native privacy, quantum resistance, and protocol simplification at the center of Ethereum's next major upgrade. He described it as the network's largest transformation since The Merge, the switch to proof-of-stake in 2022.
The draft, published on Strawmap.org and shared by Buterin on X on July 6, outlines coordinated upgrades spanning nearly every layer of the network. It is expected to be introduced over the next three to four years following discussions among Ethereum researchers in Berlin. For now, the document remains a working draft rather than a finalized implementation schedule.
Native privacy becomes a core protocol feature
Instead of leaving privacy to applications built on Ethereum, the roadmap proposes making it a built-in property of the protocol itself. Key components—Frames, the transaction mempool, and future state designs—are evaluated based on their ability to support intermediary-free, quantum-safe privacy while keeping computational costs low.
Building on ideas first outlined in May 2026, Buterin's latest proposal expands an earlier privacy roadmap into a network-wide redesign. One of the document's strongest statements is Buterin's observation that "quantum safety has shifted up a LOT in priority." The roadmap identifies work on quantum-safe blob designs, which support Ethereum's rollup-based scaling model, as an urgent priority.
According to the proposal, several cryptographic systems currently used by Ethereum—including BLS signatures, KZG commitments, and ECDSA—would eventually be replaced with post-quantum alternatives. This direction aligns with the post-quantum cryptography standards finalized by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2024.
Protocol redesign targets faster verification and smaller overhead
Alongside cryptographic upgrades, the roadmap introduces changes intended to simplify how Ethereum validates transactions. Rather than requiring every node to re-execute every transaction, the proposal recommends recursive STARK-based verification: one prover performs the intensive computation while the rest of the network verifies a compact cryptographic proof.
The proposal continues work first discussed by the Ethereum Foundation earlier this year. In February 2026, the Foundation released an initial strawmap examining quantum threats facing Ethereum, while Buterin separately detailed the network's quantum security risks. The latest roadmap develops those discussions into a more detailed implementation strategy.
Meanwhile, the technical proposal arrives as the Ethereum Foundation continues internal restructuring. The organization has reduced its workforce by roughly 20%, eliminating about 54 positions, while also cutting its budget by a targeted 40%. Recent departures have included protocol contributors Hsiao-Wei Wang, Tomasz Stańczak, Tim Beiko, and Barnabé Monnot.
Community discussion on X has largely focused on the roadmap's technical detail rather than broad ambitions. Several participants noted that the draft identifies specific signature schemes, cryptographic replacements, and state-size objectives instead of relying on high-level goals. The upcoming Hegotá fork is expected to be the final major network upgrade before Ethereum enters what Buterin describes as the Lean Ethereum era, where privacy, scalability, and quantum resistance are treated as core protocol requirements rather than optional additions.