[Ethereum‘s slot time—the time to produce new blocks—is slated for incremental reduction from 12 seconds down to as low as 2 seconds.][Finality time, the point where transactions are irreversible, will be improved from around 16 minutes to between 6 and 16 seconds.][The roadmap implements these upgrades alongside a switch to quantum-resistant cryptography, beginning with post-quantum resistant slots.]
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has elaborated on a bold new roadmap aiming to dramatically accelerate the blockchain’s performance, according to a visual public roadmap called “Strawmap” released by the Ethereum Foundation’s Protocol team. Consequently, Buterin explained the plan would involve incrementally reducing the current 12-second block production slot time through a series of cuts. He stated, “I expect that we’ll reduce slot time in an incremental fashion,” suggesting a path from 12 seconds down through 8, 6, 4, and eventually as low as 2 seconds.
Simultaneously, the current 16-minute finality time for transactions will be slashed to between 6 and 16 seconds. However, Buterin noted this involves a “very invasive set of changes” to the network’s consensus mechanism. The plan therefore bundles significant steps with a cryptography switch to post-quantum hash-based signatures for enhanced security, as reported by Cointelegraph.
Buterin said this incremental approach yields an interesting consequence: “there is a pathway to making the slots quantum-resistant much sooner than making the finality quantum-resistant.” Meanwhile, parallel p2p improvements will reduce block propagation time, enabling shorter slots without security trade-offs. “Expect to see progressive decreases of both slot time and finality time,” Buterin summarized, outlining a four-year timeline with seven forks planned roughly every six months.
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