Ethereum Foundation Releases 'Strawmap' Upgrade Plan

- The plan's primary goals are organized around five key pillars: achieving faster Layer 1 transaction finality, scaling L1 throughput to ~10,000 transactions per second (TPS), enabling massive Layer 2 scaling up to ~10 million TPS, implementing post-quantum cryptography, and introducing native privacy through shielded ETH transfers. - A core objective is to drastically improve user experience by reducing block production time, known as "slot time," from the current 12 seconds incrementally down to as low as 2 seconds. - Transaction finality, the time it takes for a transaction to be considered irreversible, is targeted for a dramatic reduction from the current average of 16 minutes to between 6 and 16 seconds. - The roadmap, detailed by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake, proposes a cadence of roughly seven network forks through the end of 2029, with major upgrades occurring approximately every six months. - Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has specifically commented on the plan, endorsing the incremental approach to speeding up slot times and the transition to a new finality algorithm to enhance network responsiveness. - Two major future narratives are being introduced at the core protocol level: the implementation of hash-based schemes to create quantum-resistant cryptography and the enabling of native privacy for shielded ETH transfers. - The document is intentionally labeled a "Strawmap" to signify it is a "strawman proposal" and a flexible coordination tool for developers, rather than a rigid, unchangeable official plan. - The upcoming forks have been given names, with the Glamsterdam and Hegotá upgrades planned for later in 2026, targeting improvements in efficiency, censorship resistance, and quantum-readiness.