Vitalik Buterin shares updated 2024 roadmap for Ethereum

Ethereum’s roadmap for 2024 will have “relatively few changes”, the blockchain platform's founder Vitalik Buterin noted in a post shared on X (formerly Twitter).

Buterin outlines six roadmap objectives for Ethereum in 2024

In his update, Buterin says the technical path for the world’s largest proof-of-stake (PoS) network continues to become clearer as focus on six key roadmap milestones solidifies. The six technical development stages for Ethereum include the merge, the surge, the scourge, the verge, the purge, and the splurge.

Going into 2024, post-Merge and Surge developments are solidifying in terms of the role of single slot finality (SSF) and cross-rollups/interop respectively.

The Ethereum founder also revealed that there’s a slight redesign for the Scourge, with the adjustments aimed at “fighting economic centralization in PoS in general.” This will be in two key areas – MEV and general stake pooling issues.

Significant developments around the Verge have also occured, and Buterin expects more to happen in the coming year, particularly as Verkle trees move closer to inclusion. Other notable aspects of the smart contracts network’s technical direction include a shrunk “state expiry" and verifiable delay functions (VDFs).

Ethereum's transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain network to proof-of-stake (PoS) in September 2022 via the Merge was a major milestone. With PoS, the network’s energy consumption fell by 99.9%.

In 2023, the Shanghai upgrade activated, bringing the blockchain to a new era as staking withdrawals went live. The sinificance of this was observable across the DeFi space.