Vitalik: The future of Ethereum will focus on security, decentralization, and scalability, not competing with high-frequency trading platforms.

Techub News reports that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined the development roadmap for the Ethereum protocol over the next five years at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival. He pointed out that Ethereum’s core functions include: serving as a “public billboard” for applications to publish data, and providing code-controlled shared digital objects (such as ERC-20 tokens, NFTs, ENS, DAOs, etc.) to ensure user sovereignty, verifiability, and fair participation. Vitalik emphasized that meaningful Layer 2 solutions should include off-chain components rather than simply copying and centralizing Layer 1.

Vitalik stated that Ethereum’s short-term scaling plans include actively increasing the Gas limit, launching ZKEVM to support more complex computations, early preparations for post-quantum cryptography, improving block construction processes, and enhancing privacy support. Regarding long-term vision, Vitalik said: “Ethereum is not meant to compete with high-frequency trading platforms but to become a secure, decentralized chain.” His core goals include maximizing security consensus, performing formal verification of everything and leveraging AI-generated proofs, pursuing extreme simplicity and implementing “exit tests” (i.e., ensuring safe operation even without a continuous development team), achieving quantum safety, and reaching fast finality within 10-20 seconds.