At first glance, the Ethereum Foundation’s recently released “Strawmap” sounds like something only a protocol researcher could immediately understand. It’s dense, diagram-heavy, and packed with references to forks, zkEVMs, and data availability sampling.
But beneath the technical language is a far simpler story: Ethereum — the second-largest blockchain with a market cap of more than $200 billion — is trying to decide what kind of infrastructure it wants to be by the end of the decade.
The ‘Strawmap’ – explicitly framed as a draft, not an official plan – outlines Ethereum upgrades through 2029. It’s not binding, but it signals where some of the network’s most influential researchers think the base layer should go next.
“Strawmap is largely independent of Ethereum governance … it’s a tool that helps inform R&D well ahead of Ethereum governance, potentially even years ahead,” Justin Drake, a prominent Ethereum Foundation researcher, told CoinDesk in an interview.
That direction has real consequences beyond core developers.
At the heart of the document are five ambitions: near-instant transaction finality, dramatically higher throughput, built-in privacy, quantum-resistant cryptography, and closer integration between Ethereum’s base layer and its layer 2 ecosystem.
Without jargon, the goal is straightforward: Make Ethereum faster, more scalable, more private, and durable enough to last for a long time.
Today, Ethereum transactions are quickly included in blocks, but the point at which they are considered irreversible, known as finality, takes too long (about 16 minutes). For most casual users, this nuance is invisible. For exchanges, bridges and financial applications, it is essential.
In a thread reacting to the roadmap, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin explained how that could change. “Today finality takes 16 minutes,” he wrote, adding that the goal is to “decouple slots and finality” and move toward a system where “playoff end times can be, say, 6-16 sec.”
Moving from minutes to seconds changes how comfortably large amounts of value can move across the network.
The layer 2 debate
Earlier this month, Buterin argued that some of the assumptions behind the original Tier 2 roadmap “no longer make sense” in their previous form. Layer-2 networks were previously incorporated into Ethereum’s roadmap to scale the network by processing transactions from the main blockchain and settling them back to Ethereum, helping to reduce congestion and fees.
However, as layer 1 or base layer scaling has improved and some rollups have taken longer than expected to decentralize, the idea that Ethereum would outsource most of its scaling burden entirely to L2s has become less clear.
Instead, Buterin proposed a more balanced future—one in which the base layer continues to strengthen while layer 2 networks evolve into more specialized roles, whether for privacy, specific applications, or enhanced security models.
“Ultimately, we want finality in seconds,” Drake told CoinDesk, arguing that faster settlement will “help bridge the L2s” and improve the user experience.
Strawmap reflects this shift. It doesn’t necessarily say layer 2s will die out, but it also doesn’t treat layer 1s as frozen. Instead, it builds on a stronger base layer along with enhancements that enable significantly higher layer 2 capacity, which could be seen as a two-track scaling strategy.
Privacy and quantum threat
Privacy marks another notable shift in the draft of the new road map.
Ethereum’s transparency has long been considered a positive, as every transaction is visible. But openness limits certain use cases. Strawmap considers native “shielded” transfers at the base layer, which would allow ETH to move without publicly revealing all transaction details. For individuals, it is a matter of financial discretion. For companies, it can determine whether certain activities move along the chain at all.
And then there’s the long game: post-quantum cryptography. Quantum computing remains an evolving field, but if Ethereum is intended to secure trillions in value over decades, its security assumptions cannot remain static. The Ethereum Foundation recently assembled a post-quantum team, and the roadmap only shows that it will continue to redouble those efforts.
For developers and businesses, the roadmap provides directional clarity. Ethereum has often been criticized for moving slowly or for constantly delaying the timelines of upgrades. By releasing a multi-year outline, the researchers signal that the network’s next phase is not just about patching limitations.
However, Ethereum’s history is full of ambitious timelines that are overloaded. Governance in a decentralized system ensures debate and revision. Strawmap itself acknowledges that it will evolve.
“To me, this is ultimately about Ethereum becoming the internet of value and ether, the asset, becoming money for the internet,” Drake told CoinDesk.
Read more: Ethereum Foundation Drops Most Ambitious Roadmap in Years, Aims for Finality in Seconds by 2029
