Ethereum’s Ambitious Technology Roadmap
Ethereum has laid out an ambitious technology roadmap for the coming two years, promising transformative innovations poised to reshape its ecosystem and influence market dynamics. A cornerstone of this strategy is the integration of zkEVM Layer 1, which is anticipated to launch on the mainnet between late 2025 and mid-2026. This cutting-edge deployment aims to verify 99% of blocks in a mere 10 seconds while slashing the costs associated with zero-knowledge proof verification by an impressive 80%. These advancements are projected to strengthen the market presence of stablecoins like USDC and USDT on the Ethereum main chain, leading to an uptick in daily gas consumption and contributing to the deflationary trends of ETH.
Enhancements in Compliance and Privacy
Furthermore, the zkEVM technology is expected to enhance compliance and privacy factors for traditional financial institutions, potentially paving the way for widespread adoption of DeFi applications on a large scale.
New RISC-V Execution Architecture
Complementing this initiative is the introduction of a new RISC-V execution architecture, set to commence in late 2025 and evolve gradually until 2030. This revolutionary approach aims to boost the efficiency of smart contract execution by 3 to 5 times, alongside cutting gas costs by 50% to 70%. By transitioning to an open-source instruction set architecture, Ethereum will ensure improved compatibility with contemporary hardware acceleration technologies. Such upgrades could unlock new use cases, including high-frequency trading, real-time gaming, AI-driven inference, and microtransactions. Lower gas fees are expected to rejuvenate smaller transactions, broadening the user base and frequency of usage.
Collaboration within the Layer 1-Layer 2 Ecosystem
The roadmap emphasizes collaboration within the Layer 1-Layer 2 ecosystem, which will initiate in the final quarter of 2025 and extend through 2027. This initiative aims to facilitate seamless connectivity between Layer 1 and prominent Layer 2 solutions such as Optimism, Arbitrum, and Base. Enhancing interoperability could potentially unite liquidity pools, increasing the total value locked (TVL) from $1.2 trillion to over $2 trillion, while reducing transaction costs across layers by an astonishing 90% and achieving confirmations in just 10 seconds.
Optimization of Validator Economics
An essential aspect of the roadmap is the optimization of validator economics, set to launch in the latter half of 2025. This is expected to align with other technological advancements over the following two years. Plans include lowering the minimum staking requirement from 32 ETH to as little as 1 ETH, while annual staking yields may rise from 4-6% to between 6-8%. Streamlined validator operations and the inclusion of light node validation are intended to bolster decentralization, potentially elevating the ETH staking rate from 25% to over 40%. This shift could lead to a reduction in circulating supply, reinforcing expectations of deflation.
Relaunch of Sharding Technology
Finally, the plan includes the relaunch of sharding technology, an integral component of Ethereum 3.0, expected to enter the design and development phase in 2026, with full implementation anticipated between 2027 and 2028 or later. Integrating zkEVM with sharding is projected to enable millions of transactions per second and reduce data availability costs by an incredible 99%, setting the stage for Ethereum’s large-scale adoption in the Web3 landscape over the next decade.
