Our development team is currently attending the Devcon 7 conference, where Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared a forward-looking vision for Ethereum’s evolution. In this post, we’ll cover the exciting insights from his talk on Ethereum's future trajectory, including major advancements, core focus areas, and a groundbreaking project called Beam Chain.
Here’s what lies ahead for Ethereum.
Key Milestones and Progress
Lower Fees on Layer 2: Transaction fees on Layer 2 (L2) solutions have significantly dropped from $0.50 to less than $0.01, making Ethereum accessible to a much wider range of applications and users.
Simplifying Technical Terminology: Buterin anticipates that terms like "zero knowledge" and "SNARK" will eventually be replaced with a simpler term, “proof,” as the technology matures and becomes more widely understood.
Ethereum’s Role as a Global Computer and Economy: Buterin emphasized Ethereum’s expanding role as a “world computer,” driving a robust, diverse on-chain economy and fostering a global, connected community.
Core Development Focus Areas
Ethereum’s future will focus on three major areas of development:
Strengthening Core Features:
Increasing decentralization to maintain network integrity
Enhancing censorship resistance to preserve openness and accessibility
Ensuring quantum resilience for future security against quantum computing threats
Scaling and Efficiency:
Systematic improvements in efficiency to make transactions faster and cheaper
Major boosts in performance, aiming for over 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) on Layer 2
Optimization of Data Availability Solutions (DAS), critical for scalability
Expanding Applications:
Ethereum Name Service (ENS) integration
Support for consumer payments
Empowering social applications
Enabling hybrid solutions that combine financial and non-financial uses
The Ambitious Beam Chain Project
In line with Buterin’s vision, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake introduced an exciting proposal called Beam Chain—a next-generation addition to Ethereum’s roadmap with groundbreaking features:
Block Production:
Slot times reduced to just 4 seconds
Finality achieved within 3 slots, speeding up confirmation times
Optimized epoch structures for seamless transitions
Democratizing Staking:
Lowering the staking entry threshold to 1 ETH, making staking more accessible
Implementing upper limits on staking to balance network participation
Increased access to validation for a broader range of users
Technological Innovations:
Introduction of native zkEVM for enhanced privacy and scalability
Removing gas limits for smoother transaction processing
Quantum resistance measures to secure the future of Ethereum
“Chain snarkification” to integrate advanced proof technology
Implementation Timeline
2025: Begin development of specifications
2026: Start implementation of Beam Chain
2027-2028: Extensive testing phase
Post-2028: Mainnet deployment
What This Means for the Community
For developers, Ethereum’s vision opens new possibilities for building scalable applications with fewer technical constraints and a broader array of tools for innovative solutions.
For users, expect lower transaction costs, faster processing times, and expanded functionalities, making Ethereum a more versatile and user-friendly platform.
For investors, Beam Chain brings additional staking opportunities, a potential positive impact on ETH’s economic framework, and long-term growth potential.
Ethereum’s future is poised to revolutionize blockchain technology, supporting diverse use cases and pushing boundaries in scalability, security, and innovation. Vitalik Buterin and his team are clearly focused on empowering Ethereum as a global, resilient platform ready for tomorrow’s demands.