Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes that the blockchain’s long-term resilience and scalability depend on simplifying it, similar to Bitcoin. In a blog post on May 3, Buterin described how “Ethereum 5 years from now can become close to as simple as Bitcoin.” He praised Bitcoin’s protocol for its “beautifully simple” design, which makes it accessible even to high school students.
Buterin argued that simplicity brings numerous benefits, including reduced costs for creating and maintaining infrastructure, as well as lower risks of bugs. Recent upgrades like proof-of-stake (PoS) and Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (zk-SNARK) integration have enhanced Ethereum’s robustness. However, neglecting simplicity has increased Ethereum’s costs.
Simplification of Ethereum Consensus Layer
Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake proposed a consensus layer upgrade called the ‘Beam Chain’ in November. Buterin believes this upgrade is “well-positioned to be much simpler” than the current beacon chain. The beam chain will allow for a 3-slot finality redesign, eliminating complex concepts like separate slots, epochs, and sync committees. A basic implementation of 3-slot finality can be achieved with about 200 lines of code.
The beam chain will also reduce the number of active validators at a time, making it “safer to use simpler implementations of the fork choice rule.” Additionally, it will incorporate STARK-based aggregation protocols, allowing anyone to be an aggregator. Buterin noted that while the complexity of aggregation cryptography is significant, it is “highly encapsulated complexity,” which poses lower systemic risk.
Simplification of Ethereum Execution Layer
Buterin recently proposed replacing EVM contract language with RISC-V to boost efficiency by up to 100x. He argued that adopting RISC-V will increase simplicity since the “RISC-V spec is absurdly simple compared to the EVM.” However, this requires ensuring backwards compatibility for existing applications.
To achieve this, Buterin proposed a four-phase plan:
- New precompiles will be written in RISC-V.
- Developers will have the option to write contracts in RISC-V.
- All precompiles will be replaced with RISC-V implementations through a hard fork.
- Implement an EVM interpreter in RISC-V and push it onchain as a smart contract.
Protocol-wide Standards for Simplification
Buterin suggested sharing “one standard across different parts of the stack” to simplify Ethereum. For example, using a single erasure code for data availability sampling, P2P broadcasting, and distributed history storage can minimize total lines of code and increase efficiency. He also proposed having a single shared serialization format across Ethereum layers.
A Change in Ethos
Buterin concluded by proposing that Ethereum adopt an explicit maximum line of code target, aiming to make “Ethereum consensus-critical code close to as simple as Bitcoin.” He emphasized the need for an ethos that favors simplicity and encapsulated complexity over systemic complexity. This approach will help reduce Ethereum’s development costs, security risks, and complexity, making it more robust and scalable.
