Buterin believes that creating a better-decentralized ecosystem demands some short-term discomfort in exchange for long-term gain.

The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, gave a live presentation on Thursday at the annual Ethereum Community Conference, or EthCC, in Paris, outlining his long-term goals for the project’s eponymous blockchain. According to Buterin, the ecosystem’s capacity is currently going through an inflection moment, or a time of fast change, before eventually settling down.

The creation of a user-friendly light client for consensus layer, execution layer, and layer-two solutions is now Ethereum’s top goal. Next, when Ethereum switches to a proof-of-stake blockchain but does not have 32 Ether, there will be improved support for home speakers or those wishing to validate network transactions. The ability of Ethereum to someday run on a complete node with less powerful hardware is crucial, according to Buterin.

In terms of the long-term roadmap, Buterin intends to improve Ethereum by integrating zk-EVMs, or zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines, and upgrading it with better cryptographic methods, possibly for quantum resistance, if they become available. Buterin adds, “We also need to maintain an open mind.” “We don’t know exactly what 2032’s requirements will be,”

However, the co-founder of Ethereum also expressed his doubts about a few other potential options. These include adding support for numerous, complicated virtual machines, becoming overly accustomed to BlackBox technologies like zk-SNARKs, or making the protocol so complicated that it is ultimately impossible to understand without the help of experts. The “Merge,” Ethereum’s proof-of-stake conversion, is about to happen. Some developers are still dubious about whether there will be a secure transfer even though it has been planned for more than two years.