Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has published a new blog post on X outlining his latest vision for blockchain scaling, arguing that the network can increase capacity in the short term while laying the groundwork for a longer-term shift to advanced cryptography and data-heavy “blobs” that would change how Ethereum is validated.
The post reflects Buterin’s renewed focus on scaling Ethereum’s base layer, after several years where much of the ecosystem’s scaling strategy centered on layer-2 rollups. The plan comes on the heels of the Ethereum Foundation releasing a ‘straw map’ aimed at making the network more efficient in the long term.
In the short term, Buterin says Ethereum can certainly increase throughput by making blocks easier and faster to verify. Upcoming upgrades will allow the computers running Ethereum to go through different parts of a block simultaneously, instead of processing everything step by step. At the same time, changes to how blocks are built will let the network use more of each 12-second processing window instead of terminating early out of caution (known as ePBS, and will be implemented in the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade).
The result: Ethereum had to be able to fit more transactions into each block without increasing the risk of error or instability.
Another key part of the plan involves rethinking how transaction fees — known as “gas” — are calculated. Buterin argues that not all activity on Ethereum puts the same strain on the network. There is a big difference between using computing power temporarily and permanently adding new data that any Ethereum computer or node must store forever.
Right now, these costs are pretty much total. But creating new permanent data—such as implementing a new contract—increases the blockchain’s long-term size, making it more expensive to run a node over time. This, in turn, risks pushing out smaller operators. Buterin’s proposal would make long-term storage more expensive while providing more space for daily transaction processing. In fact, Ethereum could handle more activity without dramatically increasing how fast the blockchain grows.
The goal, he claims, is to avoid a future where Ethereum processes more transactions but becomes so data-intensive that only large, well-funded players can afford to participate.
In the longer term, Buterin sees Ethereum leaning more on zero-knowledge proofs (a private verification method) and expanded data capacity through so-called blobs. Blobs, originally introduced to help layer-2 networks post transaction data more cheaply, could eventually carry Ethereum’s own transaction data — a shift that would allow validators to confirm activity without rerunning each transaction themselves.
Read more: Ethereum’s ‘Glamsterdam’ upgrade aims to fix MEV fairness
