On November 5, 2022, Vitalik Buterin, one of the original co-founders of Ethereum, took to Twitter to announce an updated version of the ongoing Ethereum upgrade. In his announcement, he explains that the updated roadmap adds more tangible milestones to each of the upgrade categories, as well as a “[m]ore explicit role for quantum-proofness as a necessary component of the ‘endgame’ protocol” [See, e.g. Adejumo, O. Vitalik Buterin Shares Updated Ethereum Roadmap Including Scalability Plans. (Accessed November 7, 2022)].
The new roadmap displays the introduction of a new technical update - namely, ‘the Scourge’. Presently, after completion of Ethereum’s shift to a PoS consensus, it is in the second stage of technical upgrade (‘the Surge’), with the stated goal of reaching 100,000 tps by implementing rollups. Review of the updated roadmap shows ‘the Scourge’ added as the new third stage technical upgrade, to then be followed by the previously announced stages — the Verge, the Purge and the Splurge. [See, e.g. Lindrea, B. Vitalik reveals a new phase in the Ethereum roadmap: The Scourge. (Accessed November 7, 2022)].
A diagram of this new six stage roadmap appears as follows:
According to Buterin, it is the purpose of the inclusion of ‘the Scourge’ to assure fair and dependable ‘credibly neutral’ transaction block inclusion addressing the now present MEV censorship concerns. [See, e.g. Hamid, J. Vitalik Buterin shares an updated roadmap of Ethereum. (Accessed November 7, 2022)]. Likewise, it is a goal of this stage to avoid any centralization risks and concerns resulting from MEV bot usage within the protocol. [See, e.g. [Vismaya, V. Vitalik Buterin unveils Updated Roadmap Diagram of Ethereum. (Accessed November 7, 2022)].
Following ‘the Scourge’ on the updated roadmap is ‘the Verge’. It is intended that the Verge stage will render the verification of blocks very easy within the system. In his announcement tweet, Buterin stressed that ‘the Verge’ is not just about ‘verkle trees’, but rather it is about verification. [See, e.g. Buterin, supra]. By introducing ‘verkle trees’ (containing more data in a smaller proof), the system is permitted to use lower node sizes. This stage now includes verification allowing SNARK’s to verify blocks in a simple and straightforward manner. [See, e.g. Hamid, supra].
NOTE : SNARK stands for ‘Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge’. When implemented, network anonymity is improved but transactions will go through unimpaired and remain traceable. [See, e.g. Adejumo, supra].
Moving on to ‘the Purge’ stage, it’s main goal is to simplify the protocol thereby making it easier to understand, eliminate technical data, and requiring client’s to delete their previous data (which in turn calls for the development of storage systems for the storage of protocol historical data. Kind of cleaning house, but with an end agenda of reducing expenses surrounding the joining of the network and payment of any remaining technical debt. [See, e.g. Hamid, supra].
And the final upgrade stage is ‘the Splurge’. This is technically a ‘mop up’ stage with the stated goal of ‘fixing everything else’. Basically, this stage brings together all of the additional upgrade features that did not fit into any of the other stages - a final polish to the blockchain. There are a few specifics mentioned to be addressed in this stage. First, it is intended the user experience be improved through the addition of additional security and flexibility. And second, the addition to the protocol of the Endgame EVM, the Endgame EIP-1559, and the Endgame account abstraction. [See, e.g. Vismaya, supra, and Hamid, supra].
A quick review of the comments posted to Buterin’s announcement tweet displays a mixed reaction from interested members of the crypto community. Some have expressed appreciation for the new roadmap, while others (such as @yeg0rpetrov) have labeled it as follows:
You decide.
Table of Authorities
- Adejumo, O. Vitalik Buterin Shares Updated Ethereum Roadmap Including Scalability Plans. (Accessed November 7, 2022).
- Buterin, V. Twitter - Updated Roadmap. (Accessed November 7, 2022).
- Hamid, J. Vitalik Buterin shares an updated roadmap of Ethereum. (Accessed November 7, 2022).
- Lindrea, B. Vitalik reveals a new phase in the Ethereum roadmap: The Scourge. (Accessed November 7, 2022).
- Smith, A. Vitalik Buterin Posted The Updated Ethereum Roadmap Diagram. (Accessed November 7, 2022)
- Vismaya, V. Vitalik Buterin unveils Updated Roadmap Diagram of Ethereum. (Accessed November 7, 2022)
