Ethereum's Lead Founder, Vitalik Buterin, Advocates for a Single, Consistent Design within Ethereum's Primary Protocol
Rewritten Article
In a recent post on Twitter, Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, stirred up discussion about Ethereum's future by advocating for a simpler base layer, known as Ethereum L1. Simplifying the L1, Buterin argues, will boost resilience and scalability. By adopting a less complex protocol, we can model the network after Bitcoin's straightforward design, making it more accessible and secure for a broader range of developers to participate and contribute to its growth.
Buterin suggests simplifying the protocol by combining sub-protocols as much as possible across consensus, execution, and other layers. Potential targets for this simplification include erasure coding, serialization, and tree data structures. He emphasizes that this approach will lower development expenses and reduce potential risks while making the system more sustainable.
In a bid to pursue simplicity, Buterin acknowledges the need for some upfront costs. He points out that, much like Bitcoin's minimalist design, simplicity for Ethereum allows developers of all skill levels to understand and improve the protocol more easily. As the network's complexity continues to grow, it narrows the developer base, making contributions and innovation more challenging. Simplification, Buterin insists, is the key to fostering a more democratic environment for contributions and minimizing costly mistakes.
Simplification Strategies in Ethereum
drawing from Buterin's proposals, we can identify several strategic areas for simplification in Ethereum:
- Consensus Layer Simplification:
- 3-Slot Finality Model: Instead of the current complex finality model, Buterin suggests a simpler three-slot finality model. This model reduces the active validator count, eliminating the need for complicated mechanisms like epochs, sync committees, and validator shuffling, making the network more secure and transparent.
- Use of STARK-Based Aggregation Protocols: To streamline network coordination, Buterin proposes adopting STARK-based aggregation protocols, offering better scalability and transparency in the consensus process [4].
- Execution Layer Simplification: Buterin suggests replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with a simpler alternative, easing development, and maintenance while improving the network's performance [2].
- Simplifying Sub-protocols and Shared Components: The plan includes shrinking the "consensus-critical" codebase by removing unnecessary components and layers that add complexity without significant benefits [2][4].
The goal is to transition Ethereum's architecture toward a minimalist design inspired by Bitcoin's, making the network more secure, scalable, and user-friendly while preserving its unique programmability features.
Challenges and Opportunities for the Ethereum Virtual Machine
The execution layer poses the biggest challenge as the current Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) has become overly complex, housing many unused features. In response, Buterin proposes replacing the EVM with a simpler alternative, boosting performance and lowering development friction while offering a foundation for smart contracts [2].
Interim EVM Upgrades and Future Directions
Buterin explores new VM alternatives like RISC-V and Cairo to ultimately replace the EVM. In the meantime, he recommends interim EVM updates, including increasing code size limits and advanced opcodes [1]. He emphasizes that protocol simplicity should become a core value for Ethereum, using past complexity as a chance to streamline the design for improved transparency.
In summary, Buterin's proposals represent a strategic shift towards a more streamlined Ethereum, where core components like consensus and execution mechanisms are simplified without compromising functionality, ensuring a more secure, efficient, and developer-friendly blockchain future [1][2][4][5].
Enrichment Insights:
- Buterin's proposals aim to make Ethereum as straightforward and robust as Bitcoin, improving maintainability, security, accessibility, and scalability while preserving Ethereum's unique programmability and scalability features.
- The primary challenges lie with the execution layer, as the current Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) has grown overly complex. Buterin proposes replacing the EVM with a simpler alternative to address these challenges while easing development and maintenance.
- The proposed simplification strategies include reducing the active validator counts, adopting STARK-based aggregation protocols, 3-Slot Finality Model, and replacing the EVM with a simpler alternative.
- The long-term goal is to align Ethereum's architecture with a minimalist design inspired by Bitcoin's, resulting in a more secure, efficient, and developer-friendly blockchain platform [1][2][4][5].
- Vitalik Buterin proposes adopting a simpler three-slot finality model in the consensus layer to make the network more secure and transparent, eliminating the need for intricate mechanisms like epochs, sync committees, and validator shuffling.
- To boost network coordination and scalability, Buterin suggests using STARK-based aggregation protocols in the consensus layer, an approach that offers greater transparency in the consensus process.
- In the execution layer, Buterin advocates for replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with a simpler alternative, aiming to boost performance, lower development friction, and create a foundation for smart contracts.
- Data-and-cloud-computing technology plays a significant role in Ethereum's future, as simplifying sub-protocols and shared components is part of the plan to shift Ethereum's architecture towards a minimalist design, akin to Bitcoin's, thereby improving accessibility and enhancing the network's resilience and scalability.
