Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, is convinced that the time has come to simplify its creation. Although Ethereum has evolved enormously since its inception, incorporating advanced technologies such as proof-of-stake (PoS) and zk-SNARKs, the accumulated technical complexity is beginning to take its toll: excessively long development cycles, high costs, increased risk of errors, and an increasingly closed and specialized developer community.
In a recent blog post titled "Simplifying L1," Buterin outlined his vision for redesigning Ethereum's core architecture. His goal: in five years, Ethereum will be nearly as simple as Bitcoin, without sacrificing functionality or security.
To achieve this, it proposes restructuring three key areas of the protocol: consensus, execution, and shared components. One of the most notable changes is the "3-slot finality" model, which seeks to eliminate unnecessary structures such as epochs, synchronization committees, and validator shuffling. This simplification would not only reduce the system's operational burden but also allow for the implementation of more straightforward and efficient consensus rules.
In parallel, it proposes replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with a simpler virtual machine compatible with ZK technologies, such as RISC-V. This type of architecture, already used in processors, is based on a reduced set of instructions that are easy to implement and audit. The change could radically improve the network's efficiency, increasing the performance of cryptographic proofs by 100 without losing compatibility with existing contracts, which could be executed using an interpreter.
But Buterin doesn't stop there. He also proposes unifying the protocol's standards to avoid unnecessary fragmentation. This would include establishing a single form of encoding, a common tree structure, and a standardized serialization format (favoring SSZ). According to him, simplicity is not just a technical tool, but a principle close to decentralization: less complexity means more transparency, greater participation, and lower risk.
This call to simplify comes at a key moment. Ethereum has lost some of its dominance to other, leaner, and more agile blockchains. Alex Svanevik, CEO of Nansen, put it bluntly: “If you asked me three years ago whether Ethereum would dominate the crypto ecosystem, I would have said yes. Today, I'm not so sure.”
With this proposal, Vitalik Buterin seeks to restore Ethereum's agility, facilitate its long-term maintenance, and open the door to a broader and more diverse developer community. Because sometimes, the key to progress isn't adding more, but removing what isn't necessary.
