At ETHGlobal Prague, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin laid out a pragmatic roadmap for Layer 1 scaling, predicting that Ethereum’s base layer could expand by approximately 10x over the next year.
The upgrade, he emphasized, will be driven by already-discussed improvements like delayed execution, block-level access lists, network-level optimizations, and distributed history storage.
Speaking during a panel discussion, Buterin suggested that this next wave of Layer 1 growth should be followed by a deliberate pause to assess the health of the network’s decentralization. “At that point, it would be a good time to take a breather,” he said. “Verify that we’re actually doing okay on decentralization properties.”
He went further to suggest a possible hard fork—not a new chain, but a protocol-level adjustment—to address remaining issues like account abstraction, censorship resistance, VM improvements, and simplification of the protocol. “Stuff that doesn’t threaten decentralization,” Buterin clarified, framing this as a cleanup phase rather than a radical overhaul.
Buterin also pointed out that while some in the ETH community advocate for bolder moves—such as immediately targeting 1,000x scalability—he favors a measured approach grounded in the readiness of technologies like zero-knowledge EVMs. “Once ZK-EVMs really become mature enough that we can rely on them, then go, go, go—even beyond that,” he said.
His comments reflect a strategic philosophy focused on maintaining Ethereum’s decentralization while unlocking meaningful scalability—balancing ambition with sustainability as the network matures.
Kosta Gushterov
Reporter at Coindoo
Kosta has been a part of the team since 2021 and has solidified his position with a thirst for knowledge, incredible dedication to his work and a “detective-like” mindset. He not only covers a wide range of trending topics, he also creates reviews, PR articles and educational content. His work has also been referenced by other news outlets.
Source: https://coindoo.com/vitalik-buterin-projects-10x-ethereum-layer-1-scaling-within-a-year/