‘We are halfway there,’ Vitalik said of Ethereum’s development.

The Ethereum co-founder detailed his aspirations for Eth2’s success in a two-hour Bankless podcast episode.

On the latest Bankless podcast, Vitalik Buterin guided listeners through a five-part roadmap outlining the essential steps for Ethereum to live and prosper.

To attain ultimate scalability and decentralisation, Butalik asserted that Ethereum must be more agile and lightweight in terms of blockchain data in order for it to be managed and used by a larger number of individuals.

At the beginning of December, Buterin also published a post titled “Endgame” in which he argues that all blockchains would eventually converge and details the mechanisms that will enable decentralised and censorship-resistant block verification.

The first step is referred to as the merge, and it refers to the complete shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake in the first half of 2022. The second component, dubbed the surge, aims to boost Ethereum’s scalability, huge bandwidth, and throughput, notably on zk-Rollups. According to Buterin, the merging and surge are the most significant advancements to the Ethereum network’s development.

When asked to assess Ethereum’s accomplishments over the last six years, Buterin stated that “we are halfway there” due to the launch of the Beacon Chain, the London hard fork, and even the rise of nonfungible coins. However, there is still more work to be done.

Once the merging and surge are completed and full sharding is implemented, the system will reportedly be 80 percent complete. According to Buterin, the plan, which is expected to take another six years to complete, would result in 100 percent optimization.

The following phases include the verge, which will enable more people to host nodes, thereby “democratising access to the largest possible number of participants to anybody and everyone who wishes to check the chain’s legitimacy,” according to Buterin. Purge and splurge phases follow the verge, referring to the removal of old data and the inclusion of various enhancements, respectively.

Buterin expressed his ideal scenario for a scalable Ethereum 2.0 as follows:

“Leave the past in the past and create an Ethereum that actually becomes simpler and simpler over time.”

Buterin acknowledged that Etherum is “not yet a layer-one system fit for immediate public adoption,” underlining the importance of layer-two scaling solutions and lower transaction fees. He does, however, praise Ethereum’s “fantastic” development in layer-two scalability over the last year, as well as the community that is “ready to continue fighting for it.”

Along with scalability, Buterin underlined the need of security and the safeguards associated with upgrades. He equated blockchain development to the growth of a metropolis. Just like the police and military labour to safeguard their city or country, blockchain users serve as security guards on the lookout for potential assailants. Additionally, as cities grow or blocks are added to the network, additional protection is required.

Ethereum currently consumes approximately 2.6 gigabytes of blockchain data each second, according to Buterin. He asserted that as Ethereum expands its bandwidth and user base, “the more defenders will be able to host nodes and check that everything is operating normally.”

Happy birthday beacon chain!

Here’s an updated roadmap diagram for where Ethereum protocol development is at and what’s coming in what order.

(I’m sure this is missing a lot, as all diagrams are, but it covers a lot of the important stuff!) pic.twitter.com/puWP7hwDlx

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 2, 2021