Buterin Unveils "Lean Ethereum" Roadmap

Key Notes

• Zero-Knowledge technology could allow smartphones to run full nodes within two years.
• The network’s gas limit has increased by 50% in 2025 with a push toward 60 million.
• Reports indicate a 2028 deadline for quantum resistance to secure the base layer.

Ethereum

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co-founder Vitalik Buterin unveiled a new roadmap at Devconnect on Nov. 17.

The “Lean Ethereum” strategy aims to allow consumer smartphones to run full nodes within two years.

Speaking at the opening ceremony in Buenos Aires, Buterin said Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology will reduce the computation needed for a node to “near zero.”

Related article: Ethereum Foundation Proposes “EIL” for Unified Wallet Experience to Make it Like One ChainButerin noted that bandwidth and storage costs are still a concern. Syncing a full node currently requires days of processing and terabytes of drive space. However, the co-founder predicted this barrier will vanish in 12 to 24 months.

The projection aligns with advances in ZK-EVM proving protocols. Buterin detailed the technical timeline in his ”Ethereum (Roadmap) in 30min” presentation.

Ethereum capacity also saw growth in 2025. The network’s gas limit increased by 50% this year.

Data shows that a quarter of nodes are voting to raise the limit to 60 million. Buterin has similarly advocated for Layer 2 scalability to handle network load.

Buterin also pointed to “Block Level Access Lists” to fix the Ethereum Virtual Machine. The upgrade allows nodes to process blocks in parallel to solve efficiency bottlenecks.

Lean Ethereum Philosophy

The “Lean Ethereum” concept focuses on removing legacy code. Buterin wants to formally verify the software to secure the base layer against attacks.

He argues that optimization matters more than raw expansion right now.

Buterin issued a warning about security timelines in a separate session. Quantum computers could break Ethereum’s current cryptography by the 2028 U.S. presidential election.

Developers must “ossify” or freeze the base layer to prevent bugs before that deadline. The network has four years to overhaul its cryptographic defenses.

The co-founder contrasted Ethereum with centralized failures like FTX. He noted that FTX took crypto principles and “rotated them 180 degrees.”

The goal is to replace centralized trust with verification systems to reinforce the network’s core values.

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