Buterin Pushes for Simpler Ethereum
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently called for a significant redesign of the Ethereum network, advocating for a more minimalist and efficient architecture, drawing inspiration from Bitcoin's simplicity.
Streamlining Ethereum for Enhanced Efficiency
In a recent blog post, Buterin criticized Ethereum's current complexity, arguing that it increases costs, hinders research, and raises the risk of critical bugs. He emphasized that this complexity also centralizes control among a small group of developers, undermining Ethereum's decentralized nature.
Buterin's proposal focuses on simplifying the protocol across all layers over the next five years, aiming to achieve a level of simplicity comparable to Bitcoin. He highlighted Bitcoin's ease of understanding and development as a model for Ethereum to emulate.
“Even a smart high school student is capable of fully wrapping their head around and understanding the Bitcoin protocol. A programmer is capable of writing a client as a hobby project,” Buterin wrote.
This simplification, according to Buterin, would enhance Ethereum's resilience, decrease infrastructure costs, and attract more developers.
Key Areas for Simplification
Buterin outlined three key areas for reducing Ethereum's complexity:
- Consensus Layer: Streamlining the finality system and reducing the number of validators to lower operational costs and accelerate consensus.
- Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM): Introducing RISC-V, a simpler computing architecture, as an alternative execution option, alongside potential EVM improvements.
- Standardization: Adopting a unified approach across protocol components, using a single erasure code, serialization format, and Merkle tree to reduce redundancy and improve clarity.
Buterin stressed the importance of treating simplicity as a core value, alongside decentralization, to ensure Ethereum's long-term sustainability and robustness.
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Source: Buterin