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Vitalik Buterin Sets 'Walkaway Test' for Ethereum, Targeting Upgrade-Optional Operation

He recasts Ethereum’s goal as running safely without core-maintainer intervention.

Overview

  • In new remarks on Jan. 12, Buterin said Ethereum should remain safe, predictable, and useful even if all core developers stop maintaining it.
  • He urged deliberate ossification so the protocol’s value no longer depends on future promises, with any subsequent upgrades treated as optional enhancements.
  • The roadmap stresses full quantum resistance and scaling via PeerDAS and zkEVM validation to achieve high throughput without repeated hard forks.
  • Buterin detailed hardening priorities including durable state design, broader account abstraction, and gas pricing resilient to denial-of-service risks, including in zero-knowledge proving.
  • Developers continue advancing these goals after PeerDAS’s mainnet launch and alpha-stage zkEVMs, alongside work on censorship-resistant block building and decentralized proof-of-stake economics.