10-Year Gameplan: Ethereum Targets Quantum-Safe Security, Fast Transactions

Ethereum has turned 10 years old. And instead of looking back, the team behind the second-largest cryptocurrency is laying down a bold plan for the future.

The Ethereum Foundation has released a long-term roadmap called the “Ethereum Lean Plan.” The focus: scale the network massively, keep it online 100% of the time, and prepare for future threats—including powerful quantum computers.

The Foundation says Ethereum will continue operating with no downtime, just as it has since its launch in 2015. The team wants to make sure that even if nation-states or supercomputers try to take it down, Ethereum will survive.

In addition to that, Ethereum also intends to scale considerably. The strategy involves 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) on the layer 1 chain and 1 million TPS on layer 2 chains. All of these will be accomplished with improved tools, such as zkVMs and Data Availability Sampling (DAS), to assist users in being able to verify the chain more quickly without having to download everything.

The Lean Plan will enhance all three sublayers of Ethereum’s foundation layer. The crew would like to implement what it refers to as a “lean consensus,” or quicker transaction confirmations and better data handling.

New technology such as SNARK-friendly code for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is being developed to speed up and make the network lighter. These upgrades will provide finality in seconds instead of minutes, a significant boon for users seeking quick and trustworthy results.

The Foundation also intends to advance cryptography to secure Ethereum against quantum attacks. The mission is straightforward: safeguard user balances and smart contracts prior to quantum computers posing an actual threat.

The big announcement came during Ethereum’s 10th anniversary celebration. At the same time, reports showed that Ethereum’s strategic reserves have grown to $10 billion. Corporate holdings have also jumped, with total assets reaching 2.73 million ETH.

ETH is also doing well on the market. At the time of the report, the token was trading at $3,610 after gaining 47% over the last month.

The Foundation called the new vision a “generational oath” to keep Ethereum alive, safe, and ready for the next wave of users and developers.

This 10-year roadmap is ambitious, but if the team delivers, Ethereum could become much faster and stronger than it is today.

Featured image from Meta, chart from TradingView