Ethereum's Roadmap: What's Coming After The Merge
The successful completion of The Merge in September 2022 marked a historic milestone for Ethereum, transitioning the network from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. However, this achievement represents just one step in Ethereum's ambitious technical roadmap. In this article, we'll explore what's next for Ethereum and how these planned upgrades will shape the network's future.
The Post-Merge Ethereum Roadmap
Following The Merge, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a comprehensive roadmap with several major phases. This roadmap has evolved from the earlier "Ethereum 2.0" concept into a more modular approach with five key stages, often referred to as "The Surge," "The Verge," "The Purge," and "The Splurge," following "The Merge."
The Surge: Scaling Ethereum with Sharding and Layer 2
Sharding Implementation
Sharding is a database partitioning technique that will be applied to the Ethereum blockchain to improve scalability. Instead of every validator storing and processing the entire blockchain, the network will be split into smaller partitions called "shards." Each validator will only need to store and process data for their assigned shard, dramatically increasing the network's throughput.
Initially, Ethereum planned to implement 64 shard chains. However, the roadmap has evolved to focus first on "proto-danksharding" (EIP-4844), which introduces "blobs" of data that can be more efficiently processed. This approach will significantly reduce costs for rollups, which are Layer 2 scaling solutions.
Layer 2 Ecosystem Growth
Layer 2 solutions build on top of Ethereum's base layer (Layer 1) to handle transactions off-chain while inheriting the security of the main network. The two primary Layer 2 technologies are:
- Optimistic Rollups: These solutions like Optimism and Arbitrum "optimistically" assume transactions are valid and only run computations in case of disputes.
- ZK-Rollups: Zero-knowledge rollups like zkSync and StarkNet use complex cryptographic proofs to validate transactions without revealing the underlying data.
The Surge will focus on making Layer 2 solutions more efficient and cost-effective through data availability improvements and standardized interfaces between Ethereum and these scaling solutions.
The Verge: Improving Verification with Verkle Trees
The Verge focuses on technical improvements to Ethereum's data structure, specifically the implementation of Verkle Trees.
Verkle Trees
Verkle Trees are an upgrade to the current Merkle Patricia Trees used in Ethereum. They provide a more efficient way to store and verify the state of the network. The key advantages include:
- Significantly smaller proof sizes
- Reduced node storage requirements
- Faster verification of proofs
This upgrade will make it more feasible to run nodes on modest hardware like laptops or even smartphones, enhancing Ethereum's decentralization by lowering the barrier to participation.
Stateless Clients
The implementation of Verkle Trees paves the way for "stateless clients," which can verify blocks without needing to store the entire state of the blockchain. This is a significant advancement for Ethereum's scalability and accessibility.
With stateless clients, users will be able to verify the validity of transactions with minimal computational resources, further democratizing access to the network.
The Purge: Eliminating Historical Data and Technical Debt
The Purge phase aims to simplify the Ethereum protocol by eliminating unnecessary historical data and technical complexity.
State Expiry
State expiry is a mechanism that will move old, unused state data into a "cold storage" that doesn't need to be actively maintained by all nodes. This will prevent the state size from growing indefinitely, which is crucial for long-term sustainability.
Users who need to access expired state will need to provide "witnesses" (proofs) that their data was once part of the active state. This creates an efficient system where only relevant data is kept readily available.
History Expiry
Similar to state expiry, history expiry will address the ever-growing blockchain history. While the complete history will always be available through archive nodes, regular nodes won't need to store the entire history of the blockchain.
This change will make running a node more accessible, as the storage requirements will be significantly reduced. It's estimated that these optimizations could reduce the storage requirements by up to 90%.
The Splurge: Miscellaneous Improvements
The Splurge is the final phase of Ethereum's roadmap, encompassing various smaller upgrades and improvements that don't fit neatly into the other categories.
Account Abstraction
Account abstraction (EIP-4337) will blur the line between contract accounts and externally owned accounts (EOAs), allowing for more flexible security models like social recovery and multisig wallets by default. This will significantly improve the user experience by enabling features like:
- Paying gas fees in tokens other than ETH
- Sponsored transactions where someone else pays the gas
- More intuitive recovery mechanisms for lost keys
EVM Improvements
The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) will continue to be enhanced with new opcodes and optimizations to make smart contracts more efficient and capable. These improvements will enable developers to build more sophisticated applications with better performance.
Cryptographic Upgrades
As quantum computing advances, Ethereum plans to implement quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms to ensure the network remains secure in the face of emerging technological threats.
Timeline and Implementation Challenges
While the roadmap is ambitious and clear in its direction, specific timelines remain flexible. Ethereum's development philosophy prioritizes security and correctness over speed, meaning that upgrades are only implemented when they're thoroughly tested and proven.
Current Progress
As of late 2022, development is actively progressing on multiple fronts:
- Proto-danksharding (EIP-4844) is in advanced testing stages
- Verkle Trees implementation is under active development
- Layer 2 solutions are already live and being used by millions of users
- Account abstraction is being implemented through EIP-4337
Coordination Challenges
One of the biggest challenges for Ethereum's roadmap is coordination among various stakeholders, including core developers, client teams, application developers, and users. Each upgrade requires extensive testing, client implementation, and community consensus.
The Ethereum community has demonstrated its ability to coordinate complex upgrades with The Merge, but future changes will continue to test this capacity for collaboration.
Implications for Users and Developers
For Users
The post-Merge roadmap promises several benefits for Ethereum users:
- Significantly lower transaction fees through Layer 2 solutions and sharding
- Faster transaction confirmations
- Improved user experience with account abstraction
- Continued security and decentralization
For Developers
Developers building on Ethereum can expect:
- More efficient and powerful smart contract capabilities
- Better tooling and infrastructure
- Standardized interfaces for Layer 2 integration
- Lower costs for deploying and interacting with contracts
Conclusion
Ethereum's post-Merge roadmap represents one of the most ambitious technical undertakings in the blockchain space. By addressing scalability, efficiency, and usability in a systematic way, Ethereum aims to become a global settlement layer capable of supporting billions of users.
While the timeline for these upgrades remains flexible, the direction is clear: Ethereum is evolving into a more scalable, accessible, and sustainable platform for decentralized applications. The successful implementation of The Merge has demonstrated the community's ability to execute complex protocol changes, building confidence in the feasibility of this ambitious roadmap.
As these upgrades roll out over the coming years, we can expect Ethereum to continue its position as a leading blockchain platform, with increasing capacity to support the next generation of decentralized applications and financial systems.