The Merge, Surge, and Scourge

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin today retweeted threads by blockchain analyst Evan Van Ness, which build on Buterin’s posts about the future of Ethereum technology. Ness’s threads summarize Buterin’s points and make them easier for everyone to follow.

In the series, Van Ness outlines Ethereum’s core technical roadmap, including ambitious goals like enhanced decentralization, reduced staking requirements, and faster transactions. The simplified format aims to make complex topics such as “The Merge” and “The Surge” more accessible.

The Merge, Surge, and Scourge

The Merge refers to Ethereum’s historic transition from the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to Proof of Stake (PoS) in 2022. This made Ethereum more energy-efficient and scalable by allowing users to participate in network security through staking.

The minimum staking requirement is currently 32 ETH. However, the team wants to lower this threshold to attract more participants worldwide to further enhance Ethereum’s decentralization.

The Surge is a phase focused on improving scalability. It introduces sharding, which splits the blockchain into smaller parts to process transactions in parallel, boosting throughput. It also enhances rollups (layer two solutions) to offload transactions from the mainnet.

Van Ness also discussed The Scourge, another phase in Ethereum’s upgrade roadmap. The Scourge focuses on improving Ethereum’s transaction censorship resistance and fairness. It aims to prevent block producers from unfairly censoring transactions or gaining centralized control, ensuring the network remains decentralized, secure, and resistant to manipulation as it scales.

Improving Transaction Speed and Security

Another major goal is to make Ethereum’s transactions faster and more reliable. Ethereum’s current system, based on Proof of Stake (PoS), achieves “economic finality” in about 15 minutes. Ethereum aims to reduce this finality time to just one block, or about 12 seconds. This would dramatically speed up transaction processing, improving network efficiency.

Ethereum is also focused on long-term security, particularly concerning emerging threats like quantum computing. As quantum computers advance, they could potentially compromise the cryptographic algorithms that secure blockchain networks. Ethereum is exploring post-quantum cryptography solutions to future-proof its encryption.

The network is also working on improving resilience against attacks, including potential risks from a 51% attack (where a single entity controls the majority of staking power). These improvements are part of Ethereum’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the network against various threats as it scales.