Founder Calls for Complete Blockchain Architecture Overhaul Within Five Years
Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has made an unexpectedly critical statement about the state of his brainchild, calling for a radical simplification of the blockchain’s architecture to bring it closer to the conciseness and reliability of Bitcoin. On Friday, he published an extensive proposal asserting that Ethereum must “stop pretending everything is fine” and undergo a fundamental restructuring over the next five years. Among the proposed changes are a complete replacement of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V architecture and rewriting the consensus layer, which could represent the most extensive transformation of the platform since the transition to Proof-of-Stake.
From Complexity to Simplicity: Rethinking Ethereum’s Role
In his proposal, Buterin emphasized Ethereum’s ambitious mission to become a “world ledger,” serving as the base layer for crypto storage, finance, governance, authentication, and records. However, to achieve this goal, the blockchain must be both scalable and sustainable, and the current complexity of the system, in his opinion, is the main obstacle.
“We need to shine a light on the importance of simplicity,” Buterin wrote, pointing to Bitcoin’s design – blocks, hashes, proof of work, and nothing superfluous – as a model that Ethereum should emulate.
This critical reassessment comes amid numerous initiatives to improve Ethereum, such as the planned Fusaka hard fork, which is supposed to increase L2 data space tenfold, and the 2026 roadmap, promising to enhance L1 throughput. The network has already transitioned to Proof-of-Stake, improved client diversity, and is working on ZK verification and quantum resistance. However, according to Buterin, all these improvements are meaningless if the core protocol remains bloated.
“Vitalik’s acknowledgment of the need for radical simplification of Ethereum is a turning point for the entire ecosystem,” comments Anna Sokolova, a leading blockchain researcher. “It demonstrates a maturity and self-criticism rarely seen in the technology community, especially from founders.”
Rewriting the Consensus Layer: From Complexity to Elegance
Buterin’s first target is Ethereum’s consensus layer. He proposes replacing the current Beacon Chain with a mechanism he calls “3-slate finality,” which would remove elements such as slots, epochs, and committee shuffling.
“You can build this in 200 lines of code,” Buterin claims, adding that this would significantly reduce the code volume and eliminate many sources of system bloat. Smaller validator sets would also simplify the fork choice rule.
Additionally, Buterin recommends using STARK-based aggregation so that anyone could be an aggregator without needing special trust or overpaying for bitfields. According to him, while cryptography is complex, it can be encapsulated in modules and should not complicate the entire system.
Validator functions – such as entering, exiting, withdrawing funds, changing keys, and inactivity leaks – should also be rebuilt to reduce the number of code lines and make system guarantees easier to understand. Buterin noted that the best part of this approach is that the consensus layer is not tightly coupled with the execution layer, so it can evolve independently.
“Vitalik’s proposal to simplify the consensus layer reflects a fundamental engineering principle: the most elegant solutions are often the simplest,” explains Dmitry Volkov, CTO of a cryptocurrency exchange. “Reducing moving parts not only decreases the attack surface but also makes the system more understandable and, therefore, more reliable.”
Execution Revolution: Replacing EVM with RISC-V
Buterin’s most radical proposal is the complete replacement of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which he describes as “filled with obsolete junk.” He calls it a “256-bit machine optimized for cryptographic tricks that nobody uses anymore” and acknowledges that much of this complexity arose from his own decisions.
Instead of gradual improvements, he proposes a decisive step – completely replacing the EVM with RISC-V architecture or another virtual machine similar to Cairo, which is used in Ethereum’s zero-knowledge proof systems. “Preliminary data shows this could improve efficiency 100-fold,” he claims, adding that simpler characteristics would mean faster execution and fewer errors.
Such a change would also expand opportunities for developers. While Solidity and Vyper would compile to the new virtual machine, developers using traditional programming languages could write Ethereum smart contracts for the first time without having to learn specialized languages. Most precompilers could be removed, except perhaps for operations with elliptic curves.
Buterin acknowledges that the transition to RISC-V won’t happen overnight and proposes a four-stage plan:
- Each new precompile should come with an on-chain RISC-V version.
- Developers should be allowed to write contracts in both RISC-V and EVM.
- Ethereum will hard fork to remove precompiles and replace them with RISC-V contracts.
- EVM will be implemented in RISC-V and run on-chain as a contract.
“Replacing EVM with RISC-V is not just a technical improvement, but a strategic move that could radically change the Ethereum development ecosystem,” notes Sergei Ivanov, founder of a blockchain startup. “It could attract a whole generation of traditional programmers who have so far avoided blockchain due to the need to learn new specialized languages.”
Unifying Tools and Data Structures
Buterin also criticizes the current practice of using different tools for the same tasks in different parts of Ethereum. For example, he points to erasure codes, which are necessary for data availability, P2P broadcasts, and history storage. In his opinion, all three cases should use the same code.
The situation is similar with serialization formats – Buterin proposes completely switching to SSZ (Simple Serialize), which is already used in the consensus layer and can work within smart contracts.
He also considers the current structure of Merkle trees in Ethereum inefficient. The current hexadecimal structure makes block proofs cumbersome. Switching to a binary tree with optimized hashing would make proofs faster and cheaper. Buterin recommends using the same binary tree structure for both the execution layer and consensus.
“Unification of tools and data structures may seem trivial compared to other proposals, but in practice, it can yield significant gains in efficiency and security,” comments Elena Petrova, a cryptography specialist. “When you use different tools for similar tasks, it creates additional opportunities for errors and increases the cognitive load on developers and security auditors.”
Prospects and Challenges
Buterin’s proposals represent the most radical rethinking of Ethereum’s architecture since its creation. If implemented, they could lead to significant improvements in performance, security, and accessibility of the platform. However, such a large-scale transformation comes with serious challenges.
“Implementing Buterin’s plan will require unprecedented coordination between Ethereum developers, validators, and users,” warns Mikhail Lebedev, a cryptocurrency market analyst. “Any mistake in the process of such a fundamental restructuring could have catastrophic consequences for an ecosystem with hundreds of billions of dollars in locked funds.”
The main problem is ensuring backward compatibility. Millions of smart contracts running on EVM will either have to migrate to the new platform or operate in emulation mode, which could potentially create new vulnerabilities.
Additionally, radical simplification may contradict some current initiatives to improve Ethereum, such as EIP-4844 (Proto-Danksharding) and other elements of the roadmap. Careful analysis will be needed to determine which improvements should continue and which can be postponed in favor of more fundamental restructuring.
Nevertheless, many experts support the general direction proposed by Buterin. “Vitalik correctly notes that simplicity is key to long-term sustainability,” says Alexander Chernov, a researcher in distributed systems. “Bitcoin has proven that minimalist design can be incredibly resilient. Ethereum, with its much more complex architecture, must constantly battle technical debt and unexpected interactions between components.”
Buterin’s proposals may mark the beginning of a new stage in Ethereum’s evolution – a stage where simplicity and reliability become priorities over functionality. If these ideas find support in the community, the next five years could be a period of fundamental rethinking of the world’s second-largest blockchain.