Vitalik Buterin proposes shifting Ethereum's post-Holesky architecture toward recursive STARKs and formal verification instead of traditional forks.
Tech & Launches ·
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a post outlining what he characterizes as the network's architectural trajectory for the next decade. He argues that Hegota, the fork scheduled for next year, will be Ethereum's last "normal" fork, with subsequent upgrades built on recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, and heavily optimized consensus mechanisms designed to be quantum-safe.
The post-Hegota architecture shifts three core functions: verification moves from re-executing blocks to sampling data and checking a SNARK; consensus transitions to an optimized proof of stake model; and block construction disperses from a single miner to multiple parties working together. These changes would compress finality to 8 to 32 seconds compared to the current roughly 200 seconds for 12 confirmations. Censorship resistance would be enforced through FOCIL, a scheme where validator committees publish transaction lists that the fork-choice rule ensures must be included in blocks.
Buterin characterizes the resulting system as a "hybrid construction" merging blockchain primitives with 50 years of cryptographic research rather than a blockchain in the traditional sense. The specifics of how privacy layers, node hardware requirements, and developer-facing gas cost structures will ultimately function remain subject to further design and testing before implementation.