Buterin Aims to Scale Ethereum to Over 100K TPS with ‘The Surge’

Highlights:

• The co-founder of Ethereum states that the Ethereum blockchain aims to achieve over 100K TPS.
• Buterin said enhancing user experience is crucial for Ethereum’s growth.
• He highlights the need to maintain Layer 1’s decentralization while improving Layer 2 interoperability and security.

On October 17, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin released a new article titled “Possible Futures for the Ethereum Protocol, Part 2: The Surge.” The article outlines the future development objectives for the Ethereum blockchain.

Possible futures for the Ethereum protocol, part 2: The Surgehttps://t.co/DdEUpV4zQN

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 17, 2024

The article outlines key objectives, including achieving over 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) on both Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2). The increased TPS will enable Ethereum to handle more transactions, improving everyday usability.

He emphasizes the need to maintain the decentralization and strength of Layer 1. Additionally, he aims to ensure that Layer 2 solutions inherit Ethereum’s core properties, such as trustlessness, openness and censorship resistance. Aside from Ethereum’s 100K TPS goal, it aims to maximize interoperability between L2 solutions. “Ethereum should feel like one ecosystem, not 34 different blockchains,” Buterin wrote.

Buterin Highlights Security Risks and Strategies for Scaling Layer 1

Furthermore, Vitalik said the security guarantees of Layer 2 solutions are not yet equivalent to those of Layer 1. This discrepancy could present risks in the event of a Layer 2 failure. In such instances, Ethereum’s co-founder noted that users would still need to depend on Layer 1 for asset recovery. It highlights the necessity for Layer 1 to effectively manage complex operations during an L2 wind-down.

To tackle these challenges, Vitalik stressed the importance of scaling Layer 1. He proposed gradually increasing the gas limit, though this could pose centralization risks. He advocates for a balanced strategy that includes enhancing Ethereum client software and implementing advanced technologies, like multidimensional gas pricing and lowering gas costs for certain operations.

Vitalik stated:

“Clearly, it’s absurd for everything to go on L1”. He further went on to explain, “But we do need some guiding principle, so that we can make sure that we are not creating a situation where we increase the gas limit 10x, heavily damage the Ethereum L1’s decentralization.”

Buterin to Improved User Experience

Buterin stressed the need to enhance user experience across Ethereum’s Layer 2 networks, a concern many users have voiced recently. He “If we are serious about the idea that L2s are part of Ethereum, we need to make using the L2 ecosystem feel like using a unified Ethereum ecosystem.”

He explained that the development of trustless rollups for Ethereum, similar to the Ethereum mainnet, has not progressed significantly. This is largely due to concerns about potential “bugs in the code.” Buterin emphasized that Ethereum “needs” trustless rollups. These rollups would enable certain Layer 2 solutions to “inherit Ethereum’s core properties,” facilitating more robust scaling over time.

Buterin to Lower Staking Requirement from 32 to 1 ETH

On October 14, Buterin released a post titled “Possible Futures of the Ethereum Protocol, Part 1: The Merge.” He identifies two key issues that need to be addressed: the 15-minute block finalization time and the 32 ETH requirement to become a staker. He plans to reduce the staking barrier from 32 ETH to just 1 ETH and shorten the 15-minute wait time to 12 seconds.

Possible futures of the Ethereum protocol, part 1: the Mergehttps://t.co/JycODdM4wW

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 14, 2024