In a new blog post titled “Simplifying the L1” released on May 3, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposes a complete Ethereum protocol overhaul of the base layer. His goal? Cut down the complexity that’s slowing development and increasing risk, thereby making a more sustainable, secure and scalable Ethereum without sacrificing the values that birthed it.
Buterin says the base layer has gotten too complicated and needs to be simplified. He’s drawing inspiration from Bitcoin’s minimalism and open-source hardware principles to untangle the consensus and execution layers, remove the architectural cruft that’s accumulated over the years.
Complexity is Now Ethereum’s Weakest Link
Ethereum wasn’t always this complex. But as more features were added: sharding, staking, layer-2 integrations, the core Ethereum protocol started to look like a patchwork of half-integrated systems. Buterin sees this as a ticking time bomb.
“More complexity means longer development cycles, higher maintenance costs and bigger attack surfaces,” Buterin noted.
This is what many in the Ethereum community are saying is the problem with Ethereum protocol fragility undermining innovation.
One of his boldest proposals is replacing the current consensus mechanism with what he calls a “3-slot finality” model. This would get rid of complicated things like sync committees and validator shuffling and allow a smaller, more stable set of validators. This would make it easier to implement light clients and reduce the chance of critical failures.
Reimagining the Execution Layer with Zero-Knowledge and RISC-V
On the execution side, Buterin proposes getting rid of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in favor of a zero-knowledge (ZK) friendly architecture based on RISC-V, a lightweight, modular and open-source instruction set that’s already used in embedded systems and machine learning frameworks.
This could increase ZK proof generation speeds by up to 100x. More importantly, it would make audibility and lower the barrier to entry for developers by simplifying the virtual machine logic.
The transition won’t leave legacy applications behind. Buterin suggests keeping compatibility by running EVM contracts within an RISC-V interpreter, providing a bridge between old and new without losing functionality.
Protocol Standards: Ethereum’s Next Scaling Layer?
Another part of Buterin’s plan is to reduce fragmentation through protocol-wide standardization. Ethereum’s tooling ecosystem is full of redundant systems: multiple erasure coding methods, different serialization formats and inconsistent tree structures.
Buterin proposes standardizing around simple and efficient components like SSZ (SimpleSerialize) for serialization, a unified tree format and a single erasure coding method. He says this isn’t just about convenience, standardized tools would make developer tooling better and reduce maintenance overhead.
As he put it “Simplicity is in many ways similar to decentralization.” By advocating for a “maximum line-of-code” principle, he wants to draw clear boundaries between what belongs in the consensus-critical logic and what can be safely offloaded to secondary systems or client software.
Ethereum and the AI Problem: A New Frontier
While Buterin focuses on protocol reform, others in the Ethereum ecosystem are linking the network’s future to AI. Eric Connor, a former Ethereum core developer, says Ethereum could solve many of AI’s centralization and transparency issues.
“AI is plagued by black box models, centralized data silos and privacy pitfalls,” Connor said.
Ethereum’s transparency, decentralization and programmability makes it a natural fit for AI governance and data verification. If the network can simplify and scale responsibly it could be the infrastructure backbone for trustworthy AI systems.
Not Everyone Is Convinced
Not everyone agrees with Ethereum’s current path. Nic Carter, a well known crypto venture capitalist at Castle Island Ventures, has raised red flags about the network’s economic structure. He points to the rise of “greedy L2s” and unchecked token inflation as the reason why ETH is struggling to hold long term value.
“ETH was buried in an avalanche of its own tokens. Died by its own hand,” Carter tweeted last month.
He believes ETH’s value is being siphoned by L2s that extract fees without reinforcing the base layer and the community’s tolerance for aggressive token issuance is undermining long term trust in the asset.
Developer Reactions: Cautious Optimism
Initial developer reactions to Buterin’s proposal have been cautiously optimistic. While many acknowledge the long-term benefits of Ethereum protocol simplification, others are wary of the scope of changes involved.
Ethereum core devs will start to evaluate how and when to test components of the proposal in upcoming devnets. With Ethereum’s next major upgrade Pectra scheduled for late 2025 this may be the window to start laying the groundwork for the protocol overhaul.
FAQs
What is Ethereum protocol simplification?
Vitalik’s proposal to simplify the base layer of Ethereum to improve security, scalability and developer usability.
What is “3-slot finality” in Ethereum?
A new consensus mechanism proposed by Vitalik that simplifies validator operations by removing sync committees and epochs, reducing validator count and attack surfaces.
Why is Ethereum switching from EVM to RISC-V?
RISC-V is more developer-friendly and efficient for zero-knowledge proofs, which can accelerate on-chain computation and reduce overhead.
Will existing Ethereum smart contracts still work after simplification?
Vitalik’s plan includes backward compatibility. Legacy EVM contracts will continue to work with a RISC-V interpreter.
How does Ethereum fit into the future of AI?
Ethereum’s transparent and decentralized infrastructure can help solve AI’s current problems: data privacy, model accountability, and centralization.
Glossary
Ethereum Protocol Simplification – Reducing complexity in Ethereum’s base-layer architecture to improve performance and security.
Consensus Layer – The part of the blockchain that validates and finalizes blocks and transactions.
Execution Layer – The engine that runs smart contracts and manages state transitions on Ethereum.
RISC-V – An open-source, simplified computer architecture that is efficient and adaptable.
Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZK-proofs) – Cryptographic methods to verify data without revealing the underlying information.
EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) – The runtime environment for ‘smart contracts on Ethereum.
3-Slot Finality – A proposed simplified model for finality in Ethereum’s consensus mechanism to reduce operational complexity.
SSZ (SimpleSerialize) – A serialization format proposed for Ethereum to encode and decode structured data.
References and Sources
Vitalik Buterin, “Simplifying the L1”
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only and not financial advice. Please ‘do your own research or consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
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