Vitalik Buterin shares priorities for new 'Lean Ethereum' strawmap Part of the Ethereum Foundation’s plan to make Ethereum more private and scalable is to introduce a new virtual machine, with leanISA and RISC-V among the top candidates.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined a new technical roadmap called "Lean Ethereum," which sets priorities for the network through 2029. Key goals include improving quantum resistance, scalability, and privacy. Buterin emphasized that quantum safety has become a more urgent concern, with a need to finalize quantum-safe solutions for data blobs. Privacy has also been elevated to a "first class goal" in upcoming network upgrades. The planned transformation is expected to unfold over three to four years, impacting nearly every layer of Ethereum’s architecture and is compared in significance to the 2022 shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake known as the Merge.

As part of these developments, Buterin is advocating for the creation of a new Ethereum virtual machine using architectures like leanISA or RISC-V. This new virtual machine aims to enhance programmable privacy features and improve scalability, aligning with the broader Lean Ethereum vision. The Ethereum Foundation, which is guiding these efforts, has recently undergone substantial internal changes, including a 20% reduction in staff and a 40% cut in its budget. Several key executives and protocol contributors, such as Hsiao-Wei Wang, Tomasz Stańczak, Tim Beiko, and Barnabé Monnot, have departed the organization in recent months.

The proposed timeline has drawn mixed reactions. Researcher Dankrad Feist praised the vision but criticized the three-to-four-year rollout as too slow given modern development tools like AI, suggesting upgrades could be delivered within a year. Cryptocurrency analyst Ignas Fiodorovas supported the goals but expressed skepticism about the Ethereum Foundation’s ability to meet the stated deadlines due to its past record with delays. Fiodorovas also noted that the roadmap does not address improvements to Ether’s tokenomics, which investors have been concerned about amid a broader market decline.

Overall, the Lean Ethereum roadmap reflects the foundation’s intent to strengthen the network’s security and privacy while enhancing scalability through major technological shifts. However, questions remain about how quickly these ambitious plans can be implemented given recent organizational upheaval and industry pressures.