Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin revealed additional details of the network’s new development roadmap. The plan aims to speed up block production and transaction confirmation.
“Our goal is to separate slots and finalization so that they are considered independently,” Buterin explained.
On Thursday, he commented on the visual map published by the Protocol team at the Ethereum Foundation called Strawmap. According to him, the block with fast slots at the top of the diagram appears isolated and not directly connected to other elements.
“Fast slots seem to go their own way and are not particularly connected with the rest of the plan,” he noted, adding that most of the roadmap as a whole does not depend on slot timing.
A slot is the interval in which Ethereum creates a new block. Currently, it is about 12 seconds. The plan is to reduce it to two seconds, making the network faster and more responsive.
Buterin expects a gradual reduction. According to him, the time will decrease in stages — roughly following the square root of two formula: from 12 seconds to eight, then to six, four, and finally to two seconds.
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He separately mentioned improvements to the p2p network, meaning the mechanism for interaction between Ethereum nodes. This refers to more efficient transmission of new blocks and data without reloading the same information. This could significantly reduce block propagation time and make shorter slots possible without compromising security.
Ethereum Strawmap four-year roadmap. Source: Ethereum Foundation
Finalization From Minutes to Seconds
The second major change in the roadmap concerns finalization. This is the moment after which a transaction can no longer be reversed. Currently, in the Ethereum network, finalization takes about 16 minutes.
In the future, they want to reduce it to a range of six to 16 seconds. To achieve this, they plan to replace the current complex confirmation system with a simpler and more understandable architecture that will also be resistant to quantum attacks.
He added that this involves a deep restructuring of the protocol. Therefore, the most large-scale changes are planned to be combined with the transition to new cryptography, in particular to post-quantum signatures based on hash functions.
Quantum Protection of Slots Before Finalization
Buterin noted that the chosen approach yields an interesting effect. Slots can be made resistant to quantum attacks earlier than finalization.
“The incremental approach allows for quantum protection of slots much earlier than quantum protection of finalization,” he explained.
According to him, the network can quickly switch to a mode in which, even if powerful quantum computers suddenly appear, finalization will temporarily lose its guarantees, but the chain itself will continue to operate.
“We may lose the guarantee of finalization, but the blockchain will keep moving forward,” he said.
Overall, as Buterin emphasized, slot time and finalization time will gradually decrease.
He added that the phased replacement of slot structure components and the consensus mechanism will lead to a cleaner and simpler architecture. At the same time, it will be quantum-resistant, convenient for proofs, and formally verifiable from start to finish.
The plan is expected to take about four years to implement. Updates will be released via forks about every six months, with a total of seven stages planned. Two of them, Glamsterdam and Hegotá, have already been confirmed and are expected to take place later this year.
