Bankless: A quick look at the Ethereum upgrade roadmap

Author: David C, William M. Peaster; Translator: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Vitalik Buterin has been writing enthusiastically this year, and as of 2024, he has published 25 posts on his blog.

It’s worth noting that his latest article is part of a series on “Possible Futures of the Ethereum Protocol,” with each article diving into a major part of the Ethereum roadmap:

Part I: The Merge: What else can Ethereum PoS improve?

Part II: The Surge: Vitalik: How the Ethereum protocol should develop during The Surge

Part III: The Scourge: Vitalik: Key goals for Ethereum’s The Scourge phase

Part IV: The Verge: Vitalik: Key goals for Ethereum’s The Scourge phase

Part V: href="https://www.jinse.cn/blockchain/3700418.html">Vitalik: A Possible Future for Ethereum The Verge

Part V: The Purge: Vitalik: A Possible Future for the Ethereum Protocol — The Purge

Part VI: The Splurge: Vitalik: A Possible Future for the Ethereum Protocol — The Splurge

Unsurprisingly, these are some of the most fundamental writings we’ve seen in the entire history of Ethereum; that said, there’s a lot of information to take in here. Before or even while diving into these articles, you may find it helpful to understand the focus of each major upgrade to better grasp Vitalik’s technical writings on the Ethereum roadmap.

To that end, here’s a quick start guide to help you quickly understand the basics of each major upgrade.

The Merge

The upgrade, due in 2022, marks Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), reducing energy consumption by 99% and enhancing network security through staking. However, Vitalik Buterin said upgrades related to The Merge are in the works.

The goal moving forward is to speed up transaction confirmations, reducing waiting times to 4 seconds. Vitalik said another goal related to The Merge is to reduce the staking requirement from 32 ETH to 1 ETH, allowing more people to participate and help protect the network.

By speeding up confirmations and making it easier for everyone to stake, Ethereum will become more decentralized without compromising its security.

The Surge

The Surge aims to make Ethereum faster and more scalable, with a goal of processing more than 100,000 transactions per second (TPS). This will be done by optimizing Layer 2 and improving data storage technology.

An important part of The Surge is EIP-4844, which was introduced in the Dencun upgrade in early 2024, which adds "blobs" - new block spaces for storing L2 data.

Next, with the Pectra upgrade expected in 2025, PeerDAS will enhance how Ethereum manages these blobs, increasing network bandwidth while keeping costs low. Data compression will also help reduce transaction sizes, further improving aggregation efficiency.

These upgrades will make Ethereum more scalable while remaining decentralized and secure.

The Scourge

Scourge solves a major challenge: the centralization risk in Ethereum’s staking and block creation process.

Currently, block building (the process of choosing which transactions to go forward) favors big players who use advanced algorithms to make more money. This could lead to transaction delays or manipulation, which is detrimental to Ethereum's goal of decentralization.

To address this, Ethereum plans to break the work of block building into smaller, more manageable pieces. One proposal, called inclusion lists, would allow smaller validators to ensure that certain transactions are included in a block, reducing the power of large block builders.

In addition, ongoing research into encrypted mempools aims to improve security by hiding transaction details until they are confirmed. The mempool is a waiting area for transactions before they are added to a block. Currently, anyone can view these pending transactions, which allows block builders to reorder them for profit (a practice known as MEV, or maximum extractable value). With an encrypted mempool, transaction details would be hidden until they are confirmed, reducing the chances of manipulation.

In addition, Ethereum is looking for ways to reduce staking rewards to prevent the network's wealth from being too concentrated in the hands of a few large validators. These combined efforts aim to keep Ethereum decentralized and protect users from exploitation.

The Verge

Currently, running a node requires storing hundreds of GB of data, which can be a barrier for many users. The Verge aims to change this by introducing "stateless clients" that don't need to store all the data. Instead, they will rely on cryptographic proofs (Verkle trees, or STARKs) to verify the blockchain.

Stateless clients mean that even a mobile phone or basic laptop can fully verify Ethereum. This will greatly expand who can help run and secure the network, making it more decentralized. In the long term, Ethereum aims to use cryptographic proofs to verify entire blocks so that even low-power devices can quickly confirm that everything on the blockchain is correct.

The Verge is also considering making Ethereum quantum-resistant by replacing the Verkle tree with a more future-proof alternative, ensuring that the network can withstand emerging technologies such as quantum computing.

The Purge

The Purge plan will make Ethereum leaner and simpler over time.

As blockchains grow, they tend to accumulate more and more data that every node must store, making it more difficult for new nodes to join the network. Purge addresses this problem by reducing the need for nodes to keep all historical data and unused protocol features.

One ​​of Purge's goals is history expiration, where old data (such as transactions and accounts) is stored in a distributed manner, similar to how a torrent network works. Instead of storing all past transactions, each node only keeps a portion of that history, with other nodes storing the rest. This way, Ethereum can remain secure and decentralized, but nodes don't need a lot of storage to join the network.

Another goal of Purge is state expiration, which addresses the growth of "state data" such as account balances and contract storage. This involves automatically deleting or archiving unused data over time, making it easier to manage Ethereum's long-term storage needs.

In addition, the purpose of Purge is to clean up old, rarely used network functions, simplifying the code to keep Ethereum efficient and accessible.

The Splurge

Splurge is the "finishing touches" phase of Ethereum, focusing on various improvements that don't fit neatly into other categories but are critical to enhancing Ethereum's user experience and technical robustness.

One ​​of the main goals of Splurge is to optimize the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Ethereum's core computing engine, making it faster and more secure. This includes adding features like account abstraction, allowing users to create flexible, user-friendly accounts with advanced security options. Splurge is also working on improving the transaction fee mechanism to keep costs stable and fair, even as demand on the network fluctuates.

In addition, Splurge is continuing to explore advanced cryptographic techniques that can make Ethereum more resilient to future technological changes, such as quantum computing. These upgrades are designed to future-proof Ethereum, ensuring that it remains a reliable platform for decentralized applications in the long run.

Summary

These six major upgrade phases are the pillars of Ethereum's evolution as a carefully architected, multi-layered system that balances innovation with practicality. These phases are not isolated, but rather intertwined, with each upgrade balancing current needs with future-proofing the network.

Through this layered approach, Ethereum is adapting itself to become an excellent foundation for applications and interactions on a global scale—the types of applications and interactions we all expect online, as well as the types we have yet to imagine. Along the way, the network’s intentional design will ensure Ethereum remains adaptable, inclusive, and resilient.