Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wants to strip the protocol down to its essence. And in five years, he says, it could be as “beautifully simple” as Bitcoin.

In a blog post published on Friday, Buterin outlined a sweeping plan to simplify Ethereum’s core protocol and shift away from years of growing technical complexity.

He says that the blockchain should prioritise simplicity alongside scalability and security, arguing that overly complicated systems increase maintenance costs, security risks, and create barriers to participation in protocol development.

The long-term goal, he wrote, is for Ethereum to become “close to as simple as Bitcoin.”

One proposed change would overhaul Ethereum’s consensus system using a new model that would reduce code size and simplify validator responsibilities.

On the execution side, Buterin backed transitioning from the ageing Ethereum Virtual Machine to a cleaner, faster architecture like RISC-V, which would open the door to improved performance and easier smart contract development.

He compared it to Apple’s use of Rosetta — a way to handle legacy features without letting them weigh down the core system.

The blog post echoes a similar shift inside Ethereum’s inner circles.

After years of favouring rollups — layer 2 blockchains that execute transactions cheaply off mainnet — the Ethereum Foundation recently signalled it would refocus on the base layer.

The Foundation’s new co-directors have pledged to prioritise performance, affordability, and user experience.

As part of that change, developers on Monday scrapped a planned EVM upgrade known as EOF from the upcoming Fusaka hard fork, citing its limited benefit to users.

Crypto market movers

• Bitcoin has lost 1% in the past 24 hours and is trading at $96,030.
• Ethereum is down 0.5% in the same period to $1,825.

What we’re reading

Kyle Baird is DL News’ Weekend Editor. Got a tip? Email at kbaird@dlnews.com.