“Ethereum the blockchain must have the traits that we strive for in Ethereum's applications,” Buterin wrote. “Hence, Ethereum itself must pass the walkaway test.”
Even if development slows or stops, he said, Ethereum should remain stable, secure, and trustworthy for decades to come.
A central part of his argument is the looming threat posed by quantum computing. Buterin said Ethereum should not hold off on adopting cryptography that can withstand future quantum computers, even if current machines are not yet capable of breaking blockchain security.
“We should resist the trap of saying, ‘Let’s delay quantum resistance until the last possible moment in the name of eking out more efficiencies for a while longer,’” Buterin said. He added that individual users have the right to delay making changes in preparation for a quantum threat, but protocols do not.
“Being able to say 'Ethereum's protocol, as it stands today, is cryptographically safe for a hundred years' is something we should strive to get to as soon as possible, and insist on as a point of pride,” he said.
While researchers say today’s quantum machines remain too small and unstable to threaten real-world blockchains, progress in hardware, error correction, and system stability has refocused discussions around future timelines.
Despite Buterin’s call for action, others warn that enacting changes too quickly could have unintended consequences.
Beyond the walkaway test, Buterin outlined technical priorities he said Ethereum must address to remain viable over the long term—including an architecture capable of scaling to thousands of transactions per second through mechanisms such as zero-knowledge EVM validation and data availability sampling, with future growth handled largely through parameter changes.
He also pointed to the need for a durable state design, a general-purpose account model that moves beyond “enshrined [Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm] signatures,” a gas schedule hardened against denial-of-service attacks, proof-of-stake economics that can remain decentralized into the future, and block-building mechanisms designed to resist centralization and remain censorship-resistant.
Buterin said the goal is to complete this work over the next several years, arguing future innovations should largely occur through client optimization and limited parameter changes rather than repeated upgrades.
“Every year, we should tick off at least one of these boxes, and ideally multiple,” he wrote. “Do the right thing once, based on knowledge of what is truly the right thing (and not compromise halfway fixes), and maximize Ethereum's technological and social robustness for the long term.”
