Ethereum Foundation Researchers Publish Long-Term Strawmap Roadmap Through 2029

Ethereum Strawmap: Scope, Governance, and Timeline

Ethereum Foundation (EF) researcher Justin Drake announced on Wednesday the publication of a draft roadmap projecting seven Ethereum network forks through 2029. The “strawmap” originated as a discussion starter at an EF workshop in January 2026 and is maintained by the EF Architecture team, with quarterly updates planned and revision dates recorded on the document.

Drake stated that the name “strawmap” combines “strawman” and “roadmap,” emphasizing that no single roadmap can formally represent all stakeholders in a decentralized ecosystem. Instead, the document is positioned as a technical dependency map that extends beyond the immediate agenda of Ethereum All Core Devs discussions.

According to Drake, the roadmap targets completion of seven forks by 2029, though he noted that advances such as AI-driven development or formal verification could potentially compress this timeline. The document focuses on sequencing upgrades rather than providing firm deployment dates.

Technical North Stars: Performance, Scalability, and Privacy

Drake said the strawmap is organized around five primary technical “north stars.” The “fast L1” objective aims for short slot times and finality in seconds. The “gigagas L1” target is 1 gigagas per second, equivalent to roughly 10,000 transactions per second, using zkEVMs and real-time proving. A complementary “teragas L2” objective seeks 1 gigabyte per second of data bandwidth, or about 10 million transactions per second, enabled by data availability sampling.

Two additional goals are a “Post-Quantum L1,” based on hash-based cryptography, and a “Private L1,” which would introduce shielded ETH transfers to provide what Drake described as “first-class” privacy at the base layer.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin described the strawmap in an X post as a “very important document” and commented on its technical targets. He said he expects slot times—the interval between proposed blocks—to be reduced in stages from the current 12 seconds to 8, 6, 4, 3, and potentially 2 seconds, with the final steps depending on extensive research.

Buterin also outlined a parallel redesign of finality—the time after which blocks cannot be reversed—projecting a path from around 16 minutes today down to a range of 6–16 seconds. One trajectory he detailed shows finality moving through intermediate steps including 10 minutes 40 seconds at 8-second slots, then 6 minutes 24 seconds with one-epoch finality, followed by 1 minute 12 seconds, 48 seconds, 16 seconds, and as low as 8 seconds under more aggressive parameters.

According to Buterin, these changes would be introduced incrementally, with larger steps bundled with a transition to post-quantum hash-based signatures and a maximally STARK-friendly hash function. He noted that researchers are currently evaluating three responses to recent Poseidon2 attacks: increasing the number of rounds, reverting to Poseidon1, or adopting BLAKE3. Buterin did not specify a deployment schedule, characterizing the strawmap instead as a structured sequence of technical goals connecting slot reductions, finality redesign, and cryptographic upgrades.

FAQ

What is the Ethereum “strawmap”?
The Ethereum strawmap is a technical draft roadmap maintained by the Ethereum Foundation Architecture team, outlining dependencies and a sequence of seven planned network upgrades through 2029. It is intended as a discussion-oriented framework rather than an official roadmap representing all ecosystem stakeholders.

What are the main technical objectives in the strawmap?
Justin Drake identified five “north star” objectives: a fast L1 with finality in seconds, a gigagas L1 targeting about 10,000 transactions per second, a teragas L2 targeting about 10 million transactions per second, a post-quantum L1 using hash-based cryptography, and a private L1 with native shielded ETH transfers.

How does the roadmap address slot times and finality?
Vitalik Buterin explained that the roadmap envisions reducing slot times from 12 seconds to as low as 2 seconds and lowering finality from roughly 16 minutes today to potentially 6–16 seconds, passing through several intermediate configurations.

Are specific cryptographic changes proposed?
Yes. The plan associates major milestones with a move to post-quantum hash-based signatures and a STARK-friendly hash, while researchers are considering whether to adjust Poseidon2 parameters, revert to Poseidon1, or switch to BLAKE3 in response to recent attacks.