Ethereum's Path Forward: Buterin Shifts Focus to Confidentiality, Robustness, and Reliability

During EDCON 2025 in Osaka,

co-founder Vitalik Buterin presented an extensive plan for the future direction of the Ethereum platform, outlining both near-term steps and long-range goals. His talk centered on Ethereum’s continuous progress towards boosting scalability, privacy, and interoperability throughout the network. Buterin identified improvements at the L1 layer as a top priority, advocating for higher gas limits and enhanced throughput with solutions such as block-level access lists, ZK-EVMs, and adjustments to gas pricing. These upgrades are designed to maintain Ethereum’s decentralized ethos while dramatically increasing the speed and efficiency of transactions.

Privacy featured prominently in the roadmap, divided into two main focuses: write privacy and read privacy. Write privacy is concerned with protecting user activities like transactions, voting, and decentralized finance through methods including zero-knowledge proofs on the client side and encrypted voting systems. Read privacy, meanwhile, relies on technologies such as trusted execution environments and fake queries to disguise user behavior and minimize data exposure in all interactions.

In the medium-term vision, the roadmap highlights the importance of seamless interaction between Layer-2 networks. Buterin identified critical steps such as trustless transfers of assets, aggregation of cryptographic proofs, and quicker settlement solutions, all aimed at developing an integrated rollup environment. Innovations like faster slot times, improved finality using erasure coding, and a three-stage finalization process (3SF) are expected to raise both the security and responsiveness of the ecosystem.

Another major section of the plan is devoted to Stage 2 rollups, which are intended to make verification more efficient and lessen dependence on intricate proof systems. Buterin also encouraged greater involvement from the broader community in developing and sustaining these advancements, highlighting the necessity of collective input for Ethereum’s ongoing progress.

The overarching “Lean Ethereum” vision is built around the principles of security, simplicity, and efficiency. Plans include integrating cryptographic techniques that can withstand quantum computing threats, formally verifying the protocol, and establishing ideal cryptographic primitives for hashing, digital signatures, and zero-knowledge proofs. Buterin stressed that these enhancements are vital not only for scaling but also to solidify Ethereum as a dependable and robust foundation for the wider decentralized world.

Buterin also revealed a personal transition in focus—from immediate scaling challenges to the long-term durability and privacy of the protocol. He has entrusted short-term scaling advancements to Ethereum Foundation engineers so he can devote his attention to areas like resisting censorship, achieving instant finality in single slots, and supporting decentralized communication frameworks. This strategic change reflects Ethereum’s broader shift, giving priority to network trust and integrity alongside technical performance.

The revised roadmap also incorporates progress in decentralized acceleration (d/acc) and privacy-supporting infrastructure. Buterin’s emphasis on secure messaging, decentralized social frameworks, and prediction markets supports a vision in which communication technology is central to Ethereum’s future resilience. These components are seen as key for enabling long-term, decentralized coordination that extends beyond the Ethereum network itself.

The Ethereum community has welcomed these plans, with many prominent contributors and privacy supporters applauding Buterin’s forward-looking approach. This evolution marks a wider philosophical shift for Ethereum, moving from a focus on speed and scaling to prioritizing resilience and trustworthiness. As the platform evolves, the roadmap demonstrates a strong commitment to safeguarding privacy, neutrality, and integrity at every layer.