What’s Changed in Ethereum’s New Roadmap (Strawmap) A new version of Ethereum’s long-term roadmap, “Strawmap,” has been released. Here’s a brief overview of how it differs from the version published four months ago. On July 5, Vitalik Buterin published an updated Strawmap reflecting the outcomes of the Berlin Researchers Meeting. Below are four key changes compared to the previous version (February 25) and the current version (June 26). > Schedule Changes The previous roadmap planned for seven hard forks extending beyond 2030. The new version completes the roadmap with six hard forks by 2029—reducing the total number of forks and shortening the target timeline. Notably, timelines are now grouped in two-year windows such as “2027–28” and “2028–29,” suggesting the intention to conduct more than one fork per year. The new roadmap aims to achieve the same goals in a shorter timeframe through more frequent forks. > Quantum Resistance The target for quantum-resistant L1 has been moved forward from “H2 2029” to “2028–2029.” In the prior version, quantum resistance-related items used vague terminology such as “post-quantum attestations.” While there was a general direction, no specific cryptographic schemes had been finalized. This revision, however, now specifies concrete schemes to be implemented: leanXMSS (for attestations), leanSPHINCS (for transaction signatures), and leanDA (for data sampling). In his X post introducing the new Strawmap, Vitalik emphasized the urgency of finalizing a quantum-resistant blob design. Given that quantum threats are emerging faster than anticipated, Ethereum is accelerating its priority on quantum resistance. > Consensus and Proofs In the consensus layer, the previous item—“gradually reducing epochs to accelerate finality” (1-epoch finality → 4-slot epochs)—has been removed. It has been replaced by “decoupled consensus” and “1-round finality.” This approach separates the chain-building process from the finality determination process entirely, aiming to reduce finality confirmation to just one round. This marks a shift from incremental improvements to a fundamental redesign. The ZK-proof component in the execution layer has also undergone major changes. Previously, the system required agreement among multiple provers (e.g., 3-of-5). The new roadmap replaces this with a single, formally verified canonical EVM implementation (evm-asm canonical guest), requiring proof for just that one implementation (1-of-1). Instead of cross-verifying multiple proofs to reduce risk, the system now aims to mathematically guarantee the correctness of the verification target itself. zkRISC-V has appeared as a candidate virtual machine in the Strawmap. However, it is still too early to confirm that the VM will definitively be RISC-V-based; both leanISA and RISC-V remain under consideration. Additionally, “snail issuance”—Ethereum’s planned reduction in issuance—has been added to the Strawmap. This is the first time Ethereum’s inflation policy has been explicitly included in its technical roadmap. However, the Strawmap is still not finalized; several items remain contentious, and their actual implementation will require further observation. > State Changes The “endgame state,” previously slated for 2029, has been pushed into the “longer-term” horizon. Instead, new state types—such as keyed nonces and decentralized state—have been added to earlier forks. Rather than modifying the existing state structure, these additions introduce limited-purpose but highly scalable state extensions (e.g., dynamic state: +2TB; new type: +100TB). This is among the most disruptive elements of the plan, and since Ethereum has explicitly requested feedback from application developers, significant changes are still possible. > Summary Compared to the February version, the nature of the Strawmap document itself has evolved. Work on increasing gas limits and blob counts is now presented as continuous bands that better reflect actual implementation progress. Additionally, items related to upcoming hard forks—Glamsterdam and Hegotá—now include badges indicating EIP status: SFI (Scheduled For Inclusion) and CFI (Considered For Inclusion). If the February Strawmap was a rough sketch, this new version is a concrete roadmap directly tied to implementation and fork decision-making processes. This revision of the Strawmap clarifies previously debated pathways, re-prioritizes timelines, and adds specificity to Ethereum’s future development path.This is also not a finalized roadmap, and some argue that a 3- to 4-year timeline is too slow. However, looking at the changes between the February and June versions this year, the fact that discussions have become this concrete in just four months is itself another important message.