The long-term plan proposes a series of upgrades aimed at faster transactions, higher capacity, and new privacy features.<\/p>\n
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has shared a long-term plan, dubbed the \u201cstrawmap,\u201d that outlines how Ethereum could evolve over the rest of the decade, with goals including faster transactions and higher capacity.<\/p>\n
The roadmap lays out several possible changes across Ethereum\u2019s core layers. If completed, it would mark the biggest evolution of the network since The Merge<\/a> in 2022, which moved Ethereum from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.<\/p>\n The plan underscores how Ethereum developers are preparing the network for more users and more activity by gradually improving speed, security, and reliability. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin described the roadmap as a \u201cvery important document\u201d in a post<\/a> on X. <\/p>\n Ethereum is currently the world\u2019s largest smart contract blockchain, with more than $56 billion in total value locked (TVL) across decentralized finance, according to DefiLlama. Following the news, Ether (ETH) briefly moved higher. The token is currently trading at $2,030 \u2013 down about 2% on the day but still up more than 4% over the past week.<\/p>\n The strawmap outlines a long-term path with around seven forks through 2029. Justin Drake, a member of the EF Architecture team, explained in a post<\/a> on X that the roadmap is built around five \u201cnorth stars.\u201d<\/p>\n These include making the main network faster through shorter block times and near-instant finality, increasing capacity to roughly 10,000 transactions per second on Layer 1, scaling Layer 2 networks to as much as 10 million transactions per second, introducing post-quantum cryptography, and adding native privacy through shielded ETH transfers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe strawmap is an invitation to view L1 protocol upgrades through a holistic lens,\u201d Drake said. \u201cBy placing proposals on a single visual, it provides a unified perspective on Ethereum L1 ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Buterin described the roadmap as a gradual revamp of Ethereum\u2019s core systems, in which slot times, consensus, and cryptography are replaced bit by bit rather than through a single large overhaul.<\/p>\n The new roadmap builds on Ethereum\u2019s recent upgrades, including Fusaka<\/a>, which launched in December 2025. That upgrade introduced the PeerDAS data availability system to help the network process more transactions while keeping fees low. <\/p>\nThe Details<\/h2>\n