Key Points
- Ethereum co-founder and core developer Vitalik Buterin has stated layer 2 scaling, wallet security, and privacy-preserving features as the three key features to support Ethereum’s future.
- He added that a misfit in either one of the three features could spell doom on the network.
- Vitalik Buterin also asked developers to keep building.
Ethereum fails without these three pivots: Vitalik Buterin
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum network co-founder and core developer, has outlined wallet security, layer 2 scaling, and privacy-preserving features as key Ethereum pivots. In a June 9, 2023 post from his blog, Vitalik Buterin expressed that the Ethereum network outright “fails” without either of the features.
He started with scaling issues, saying that layer 2 scaling keeps the network uncongested, highly competitive, and affordable. He said that without l2 protocols, the fees would be exorbitantly high, leading to a collapse in the ecosystem due to unaffordability and low transaction speeds.
An excerpt in the blog post reads.
“Ethereum fails because each transaction costs $3.75 ($82.48 if we have another bull run), and every product aiming for the mass market inevitably forgets about the chain and adopts centralized workarounds for everything.”
On smart contract wallets, Vitalik Buterin said that a move to institute them in the network has resulted in some issues due to complexities from user experience as users take control of multiple addresses all at once. He expounded that these wallets must secure data to truly transition into an on-chain world with zero-knowledge rollups:
“In a ZK world, however, this is no longer true: the wallet is not just protecting authentication credentials, it’s also holding your data.”
The last of his three pivots of the Ethereum blockchain came in the form of privacy-preserving features. Vitalik said these features must bring improved identity, reputation, and social recovery systems for users to experience improved security.
An excerpt from his blog reads:
“Without the third, Ethereum fails because having all transactions (and POAPs, etc) available publicly for literally anyone to see is far too high a privacy sacrifice for many users, and everyone moves onto centralized solutions that at least somewhat hide your data.”
He suggested the use f stealth addresses for the issue. Vitalik Buterin has expressed that getting all three pivots of the blockchain up and running will be challenging as “intense coordination” is required between them.
He added that realizing this goal is still afar as it would be tiresome to acquire information on how to pay someone, unlike using one address model. As such, he concluded the need for developers to keep working and figure out how to develop an infrastructure that ultimately improves user experience.
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