The Ethereum Foundation has released a comprehensive roadmap that will shape the long-term future of blockchain. Called the "Strawmap," this plan outlines its approach along three main axes: scalability, quantum resilience, and native privacy at the base layer.
Transaction finality in seconds
Currently, it can take minutes for a transaction to be finalized on Ethereum. The Strawmap aims to dramatically shorten this time. The roadmap highlights the goal of "1-slot finality," meaning each transaction will be finalized within a single slot, or a few seconds. This development will make the network a much more attractive environment for application developers while maintaining decentralization and security.
10,000 TPS target: zkEVM comes into play
Perhaps the most striking part of the Strawmap is its targets for transaction capacity. Through zkEVM solutions based on zero-knowledge proof-of-stake technology, the Foundation plans to reach 10,000 transactions per second at layer 1 (L1) and 10 million transactions per second at layer 2 (L2). Improvements to blob data processing, sampling, and calldata efficiency are also part of this process.
Taking precautions against the quantum threat
The threat that quantum computers could pose in the crypto world has long been a topic of discussion. According to figures like Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy, a serious quantum threat is still years away. However, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin warns that the risk could emerge as early as 2028. Ripple's technical director, David Schwartz, also expresses similar concerns, drawing attention to the need for a quantum-resistant fork of Bitcoin.
Strawmap offers concrete answers to these concerns: Hash-based cryptography, quantum-resistant confirmation mechanisms, and quantum-resistant transaction schemes are included in the roadmap. In the same vein, the Bitcoin community has also brought up the BIP-360 upgrade; this upgrade, when implemented on the network, will bring post-quantum cryptography to Bitcoin.
Privacy is now in the protocol itself
Until now, Ethereum has largely relied on external tools and third-party solutions for privacy. Strawmap could change this equation. The roadmap includes native hidden transfers at the L1 level and advanced cryptographic principles. This means users can hide their balances and transaction history on the underlying protocol; without requiring an external tool.
The foundation is structuring the upgrades through three main components:
- Consensus Layer (CL): Confirmation and validator efficiency
- Data Layer (DL): Transaction throughput and blob scaling
- Execution Layer (EL): zkVM, computational abstraction, and sustainability
The roadmap envisages a total of seven Ethereum forks by the end of 2029.
Vitalik's ETH sales and price movement
The release of Strawmap coincided with Vitalik Buterin's gradual reduction of his portfolio. According to on-chain data, Buterin sold between 11,000 and 17,000 ETH (worth approximately $23-43 million) in the last month; leaving him with approximately 224,000 ETH. Buterin is carrying out these transactions in small batches, aiming to limit any potential sharp pressure on the price.
On the market front, ETH is trading at $2,106 as of February 26, with a daily increase of 13.78%.
