Ethereum simplification plan Vitalik reveals bold 5-year strategy

Key Points

• Ethereum simplification plan Vitalik reveals bold 5-year strategy
• Vitalik Buterin proposes a leaner Ethereum protocol
• “3-slot finality” aims to streamline consensus
• EVM may shift to a simpler, ZK-friendly RISC-V
•  Push for protocol-wide standards to cut complexity

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has revealed a sweeping five-year vision to make Ethereum “as simple as Bitcoin.” In a detailed blog post titled Simplifying the L1, published May 3, Buterin outlined proposed changes to make Ethereum leaner, more efficient, and easier to maintain.

His vision addresses a growing concern: Ethereum’s complexity has expanded rapidly, making the network harder to develop, maintain, and scale. Buterin’s proposed architecture overhaul targets three key layers—consensus, execution, and shared standards—all aimed at achieving long-term sustainability.

Ethereum 5.0 aims for “3-slot finality” and RISC-V efficiency

At the heart of Buterin’s plan is simplifying the consensus layer. He introduced the concept of “3-slot finality,” designed to reduce the technical weight of the network. This model would remove complicated components like epochs, sync committees, and validator shuffling.

One of the best things about Bitcoin is how simple it is. This simplicity has lots of benefits. Let’s bring those benefits to Ethereum. pic.twitter.com/YwmVaOCPlP

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) May 3, 2025

“The reduced number of active validators at a time means that it becomes safer to use simpler implementations of the fork choice rule,” Buterin explained.

Buterin also wants to overhaul Ethereum’s execution layer by replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with a ZK-friendly virtual machine based on RISC-V. This minimalist design could improve zero-knowledge proof performance by up to 100x.

To ensure existing smart contracts remain functional, Buterin proposed running older EVM contracts onchain using a RISC-V interpreter. Both systems would coexist during the transition, maintaining compatibility.

Buterin praises Bitcoin for its simplicity. Source: Vitalik Buterin – Techtoken

As Ethereum evolves, community discussions remain active about the diverse strategies of Ethereum whales in 2025, reflecting differing views on the network’s future trajectory (read more).

Standardization and the path to a simpler Ethereum

Buterin argues that simplicity fosters resilience, improves security, and lowers development costs. Drawing inspiration from Bitcoin’s clean, minimalist approach, he wants Ethereum to adopt:

• A single erasure coding method

• A unified serialization format (favoring SSZ)

• A common tree structure across the protocol

These changes aim to eliminate redundant complexity and streamline Ethereum’s infrastructure. Buterin even suggested adopting a “max line-of-code” limit, keeping consensus-critical logic lean and easy to audit.

Source: Vitalik Buterin

“Simplicity is in many ways similar to decentralization,” he noted.

Such standardization could also improve how Ethereum handles increasingly complex decentralized finance (DeFi) and memecoin trading trends (explore the latest here).

Ethereum’s fight for dominance amid rising competition

This strategic push for simplification comes at a crucial time. Ethereum is losing market share to faster, lower-cost Layer 1 blockchains. At the LONGITUDE by Cointelegraph event on May 2, Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik remarked that Ethereum’s dominance is clearly waning compared to just a few years ago.

Buterin’s proposal is a bold attempt to reclaim Ethereum’s edge by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and long-term scalability. His vision also resonates with wider crypto trends, where other key events—such as Arizona’s new Bitcoin reserve policy (details here) and speculation around Ripple’s potential buyout of Circle (full story)—show how networks are competing to lead the next phase of blockchain adoption.

Moreover, as security incidents like the ZachXBT Bitcoin theft case (learn more) highlight the importance of minimizing protocol complexity, Buterin’s emphasis on simplicity could not be more timely.