Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has urged the blockchain community to rethink the network’s design approach, pushing for a more minimalist and efficient structure.
In a blog post published on May 3, Buterin argued that Ethereum should adopt a simpler protocol model, similar to Bitcoin’s, to improve efficiency, scalability, and security.
Buterin Touts Bitcoin’s Simplicity
Buterin described Ethereum’s current system as overly complex, warning that its technical depth increases costs, isolates research efforts, and raises the likelihood of serious bugs.
The Ethereum co-founder also emphasized that the current design centralizes too much control among a small group of technically advanced contributors. He argued that this approach undermines the network’s decentralization ethos.
To address these challenges, Buterin proposes simplifying the protocol across all network layers over the next five years. So, he suggests Ethereum draws inspiration from Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
“Even a smart high school student is capable of fully wrapping their head around and understanding the Bitcoin protocol. A programmer is capable of writing a client as a hobby project,” Buterin wrote.
According to Buterin, simplifying the protocol will make Ethereum more resilient, reduce infrastructure costs, and lower the entry barrier for developers.
He also concluded that simplicity should be treated as a core value, much like decentralization. He believes Ethereum must prioritize design choices that promote clarity, robustness, and long-term sustainability.
How Can Ethereum Reduce its Complexity?
To achieve this vision, Buterin highlighted three key areas where Ethereum can reduce complexity.
First, he recommended changes to the consensus layer, particularly by streamlining the finality system and reducing the number of validators. These steps, he said, would lower operational costs and speed up network consensus.
He pointed out that the consensus layer is loosely coupled with Ethereum’s execution system. This separation gives developers more flexibility to implement improvements without breaking core functionality.
“The nice thing about the consensus layer is that it is relatively disconnected from EVM execution, which means that there is a relatively wide latitude to continue to make these types of improvements,” Buterin said.
The second is focused on overhauling the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
To do this, Buterin recommends introducing RISC-V, a simpler and more efficient computing architecture, as an alternative execution option. He also envisions a future where developers can write contracts using RISC-V alongside the EVM.
Additionally, he suggested replacing precompiles with a canonical on-chain implementation. He also proposed building a RISC-V-based EVM interpreter to support future upgrades with better maintainability.
Lastly, he called for standardization across protocol components. Instead of using different tools for similar functions, Ethereum could adopt one erasure code, serialization format, and Merkle tree. This unified approach would help reduce redundancy and enhance the network’s clarity.
“There is typically very little or no benefit to using different protocols to do the same thing in different places, but such patterns appear anyway, largely because different parts of protocol roadmapping don’t talk to each other,” Buterin pointed out.
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