Vitalik Buterin indicates that Ethereum, which is now well-known to most people as a network used for transfers, trading tokens, and running decentralized applications, will evolve towards a fundamentally different design by the end of this decade. In an article published on Sunday titled "The cryptographic world computer", Buterin outlined his vision for Ethereum's future scalability: it will rely more on cryptographic proofs and external computer networks, rather than the "brute-force" verification currently used by blockchain systems.

Key Points

• Vitalik Buterin describes Ethereum's architecture for 2030 as a hybrid system: a blockchain combined with cryptographic proofs and external computer networks. It will still be called a blockchain, but its mode of operation will be quite different.
• Ethereum's current verification mechanism requires each node to perform the same transaction calculations repeatedly. While this mechanism ensures the integrity of the network, it also limits the increase in throughput that could be achieved by adding more computers.
• Short mathematical proofs allow computers to verify each other's work results without having to redo every calculation, enabling different machines to process different tasks simultaneously.
• The privacy plan of Buterin will conceal wallet balance inquiries and payment details, and is built upon the technology already used by Zcash. As of Friday, Zcash's shielded pools held approximately 4.9 million ZEC.

Vitalik Buterin's Vision for Ethereum in 2030

The core point of Buterin is quite straightforward: by 2030, Ethereum may still retain the label of “blockchain,” but its mode of operation will no longer be what people currently understand as blockchain. The network he describes will combine blockchain, cryptographic proofs, and computer networks that operate outside of the main chain, thereby changing what Ethereum can handle and what users can verify on their own.

"The concept of 'Computer in the World of Cryptography'"

Buterin describes this transformation as moving beyond a simple ledger to what he calls a “cryptographic world computer.” This hybrid architecture aims to combine blockchain with modern cryptography to unleash capabilities that current systems are unable to provide.

Hybrid architecture combining blockchain and cryptography

According to Vitalik Buterin's explanation regarding cryptographic proof reasoning, this transformation is already underway. Buterin indicates that future upgrades will rely more on mathematical proofs, software error-checking tools, and security designs that can withstand quantum attacks.

Current Ethereum verification methods and their scalability limitations

Currently, to thoroughly verify Ethereum, it means having to repeat the calculations behind each transaction. Full nodes confirm whether the sender has sufficient funds, as well as whether a particular application is operating in accordance with its own rules. The way they do this is by re-performing the same mathematical calculations that every other honest node has already done.

This redundancy is precisely what keeps Ethereum credible, but it also limits the network's capacity. Adding more computers to the network does not automatically translate into increased transaction capacity, as each machine is busy re-verifying activities that have already been checked by other machines. This is precisely the scalability limitation of blockchain that the Buterin proposal attempts to address.

Ten years ago, developers attempted to circumvent this issue by splitting the work among smaller groups of computers. However, coordinating these groups introduced delays, and if one group failed, it was difficult for the entire network to recover. Buterin states: "At that time, this was not feasible, mainly due to the lack of a key element: verification."

Progress in Cryptographic Proofs in Extensibility and Verification

Buterin believes that the updated cryptographic tools now provide a way to break this limitation: by replacing full re-computation with compact proofs, other computers can almost instantly complete the checks.

Replace re-calculations with brief mathematical proofs

In this mode, a computer first processes a batch of transactions and generates a short mathematical proof to demonstrate that it has complied with the network rules. The speed at which other machines verify this proof is much faster than re-performing the original calculations; at the same time, independent spot checks confirm that the underlying transaction data is still available for anyone who wishes to inspect it.

Different computers process tasks in parallel.

This arrangement will allow different computers to process different tasks simultaneously and verify each other's results at the same time, thereby increasing Ethereum's total capacity without compromising the credibility of the network. However, there is one limitation: Ethereum still needs to address issues related to the order of transactions, such as which of two conflicting payments occurs first. Buterin suggests that such tasks could be completed off-chain in advance, and then the proofs could be merged later on, thereby reducing the amount of information that is ultimately recorded on the blockchain.

Privacy enhancement and broader ecological development

In addition to scalability, the roadmap for Buterin also addresses a more subtle issue of privacy leakage: the information that users expose merely when querying their own wallets. This is part of a broader privacy upgrade that is currently underway in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Hide wallet usage data and balance inquiries

Today, querying one's balance usually means asking an external server for a specific address, and even though the server operator cannot see the actual payment, they can still know which accounts someone is following. Buterin proposes to hide these balance requests, payment details, as well as the spending rules used by the accounts. In this way, for example, companies can keep payments confidential without exposing account information, and even if employees query their balances, not too much information will be disclosed.

Ethereum is not the only project pursuing this goal. Zcash has already allowed users to send shielded payments containing encrypted addresses and amounts. According to the analysis of ZecStats data by CoinDesk, as of Friday, its shielded pools held approximately 4.9 million ZEC, and the token price rose by about 15% in the past week to approach $1,660. On the other hand, researchers in a paper published this week titled “Shielded Bitcoin” proposed adapting the same encrypted payment design to BTC, storing values denominated in Bitcoin within encrypted notes, and verifying expenditures through mathematical proofs checked by independent software, rather than relying on Bitcoin’s own consensus rules. The paper’s authors reserved the actual Bitcoin deposit and withdrawal mechanisms for future research.

Buterin's own roadmap also points in a similar long-term direction: future Ethereum upgrades will increasingly rely on mathematical proofs, tools for automatically checking software for errors, and security designs that can withstand future quantum computers.

What does this mean for Ethereum's future decade?

Overall, these changes redefine what "extending Ethereum" actually means. The network is no longer just about having more validators doing the same work; instead, it involves distributing different computations across various machines, while using proof mechanisms to ensure that everyone behaves honestly. For developers and institutions assessing whether Ethereum will be able to support the scale of mainstream activities in the future, this distinction is more important than simply the number of transactions per second.

Privacy is equally important in this context as well. For a long time, both businesses and ordinary users have viewed the ability to publicly query balances and track wallet activities as reasons for not wanting to handle sensitive transactions on completely transparent blockchains. If the methods proposed by Buterin for hiding balance queries and payments are indeed effective as claimed, it could eliminate a long-standing friction point that hinders real-world use of these technologies. However, the roadmap does not provide an answer to how regulatory authorities will respond to this increased level of confidentiality.

These changes will not be implemented overnight. Buterin itself describes this transformation as a multi-year process that will continue until 2030. The subsequent goal is to provide “cheaper, more scalable, and more private high-security computing,” which could not be achieved with previous network technologies alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Ethereum currently verify transactions, and why does this limit scalability?

Ethereum currently verifies transactions by repeating all calculations on each node, which is very resource-intensive and limits its scalability.

What role does cryptography play in the future scalability of Ethereum?

Cryptography proofs allow for the verification of transactions with short proofs, rather than complete re-computation, thereby enabling parallel processing and higher capacity.

According to the vision of Buterin, how will Ethereum's privacy be improved?

Privacy improvements aim to conceal wallet usage patterns, balance inquiries, and payment details, allowing users to keep their transaction information confidential.

What are the security enhancements planned for Ethereum in the future?

Future upgrades will focus on quantum-resistant security, automated formal verification of software, as well as scalable and private computing.

This article was generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and has been reviewed by an editorial team.