Vitalik Buterin claimed that the Ethereum (ETH) network has effectively solved the long-debated “blockchain trinity”: security, decentralization, and scalability.
Buterin said the latest protocol upgrades have made Ethereum a “fundamentally new and more powerful decentralized network,” adding that the network can now offer high security, strong decentralization, and high bandwidth at the same time.
In a post on Recalling that PeerDAS is scheduled to be deployed on the mainnet by 2025, Buterin said that ZK-EVM has achieved production quality in terms of performance and the remaining main focus is security. He added that ZK-EVM will be used in limited parts of the network from 2026.
Buterin compared the current state of Ethereum to the two major peer-to-peer network models of the past, noting that BitTorrent (2000) offered high bandwidth and decentralization but lacked consensus, and Bitcoin offered strong consensus and decentralization but was limited by low bandwidth. According to Buterin, Ethereum, along with PeerDAS and ZK-EVM, is becoming the first live system to offer all three functions at the same time.
Buterin argued that this is not a theoretical promise, but a development implemented in practical code. He said data accessibility sampling is already active on the mainnet and ZK-EVM is at production level in terms of performance, and shared the roadmap for the next four years.
Therefore, in 2026, thanks to BAL and ePBS, it will be possible to increase the gas limit independently of ZK-EVM and launch the first ZK-EVM node. From 2026 to 2028, higher gas limits will be secured through steps such as gas price revisions, state structure changes, and migration of execution loads to BLOBs. An even larger gas limit increase is targeted between 2027 and 2030, as ZK-EVM becomes the primary method of block validation.
Buterin also emphasized the long-term vision of “distributed block generation.” He said the ultimate goal is to achieve an architecture where blocks are not completely created at any one time, adding that while this is not necessary in the short term, it is important for the network to have this capacity. Buterin argued that the power to create blocks should be decentralized as much as possible, explaining that this can be achieved through both in-protocol solutions and out-of-protocol decentralized block generation marketplaces. He noted that this approach reduces the risk of intensive interventions and strengthens geographic equity.
*This is not investment advice.
