- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says quantum resistance, privacy, and AI-assisted security have become greater priorities since his 2023 roadmap.
- Ethereum researchers are increasingly relying on STARKs and AI-assisted formal verification to check protocol security.
- The updated “Strawmap” includes native rollups and explores a future beyond the EVM.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published an update to his 2023 roadmap on Monday, highlighting that quantum resistance, privacy, and AI-assisted security have become central priorities for the network. In a post on X, Buterin compared his original roadmap to Ethereum’s current “Strawmap,” calling some completely new features a reflection of “changing priorities.”
Among those new priorities are stronger privacy and scaling designed for a post-quantum world, alongside efforts to simplify Ethereum’s technical specifications. “A common theme in scaling … is that instead of trying to maximally scale all Ethereum activity,” Buterin wrote, “We try to create specialized mechanisms that have more restrictive properties that make them more scaling-friendly.”
Consequently, Buterin said Ethereum is increasingly relying on STARKs, a cryptographic technology used to verify computations, and AI-assisted verification to check that the protocol works as intended. “This can only be safe with formal verification, which is itself only feasible with modern AI tools,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Buterin’s post comes as Ethereum has accelerated preparations for “Q-Day” and the threat posed by quantum computers. In January, Buterin urged developers to adopt quantum-resistant cryptography, and the Ethereum Foundation formed a dedicated post-quantum team.
In July, Buterin placed quantum safety and privacy at the center of his proposed “Lean Ethereum” overhaul. “Ethereum will be quantum-safe,” Buterin wrote. “Ethereum will put users’ privacy first.”
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