# Vitalik Outlines Technical Strawmap Updates

*The updated technical roadmap highlights three to four years of optimizations, encompassing quantum safety, a dual-state scaling architecture, and native privacy.*

By [ETH Daily](https://ethdaily.io) · 2026-07-06

ethereum, scaling, research, privacy

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Ethereum researchers and client teams recently gathered in Berlin to evolve the protocol's long-term coordination map, officially updating the technical roadmap known as the [Strawmap](https://ethdaily.io/891). First introduced as a public coordination tool to align progress across several research goals, the revised framework charts a multi-year transition toward Lean Ethereum, which Vitalik Buterin characterized as the third major iteration of the protocol. The technical trajectory aims to systematically replace core components of the network over the next three to four years while preserving backward compatibility for existing apps.

The [updated Strawmap](https://2073459000398463446) focuses on enshrining recursive STARKs directly into the core protocol layer rather than continuing to rely on direct transaction re-execution. The EF Protocol Team has significantly elevated the priority of quantum-safe cryptographic designs, accelerating urgent research into finalizing quantum-resistant blob specifications. On the consensus layer, researchers seek to decouple the available chain from the finality engine, working toward a streamlined one or two-round finality mechanism to deliver simpler, optimal security properties. The roadmap also introduces multi-dimensional gas modeling alongside extensive client architecture simplifications.

The most structural change involves state scaling, where researchers are coalescing around a dual-state design. The plan proposes leaving the existing dynamic execution state relatively unchanged, capped near two terabytes, and expanding capacity through a new category of restrictive, scalable state expected to scale up to one hundred terabytes. The new style of state is highly optimized for standard token balances, non-fungible tokens, and simple DeFi contracts, but it will exclude complex operations like centralized liquidity pools or on-chain order books. While developers will not be forced to deploy new configurations, migrating assets to newer architectures like the state-efficient keyed nonces under development could reduce transaction fees by 10x.

The upgraded framework also focuses on native privacy. Developer teams will systematically evaluating privacy overhead when mapping updates to transaction mempools, the state tree, and transaction frameworks. These core scaling and privacy plans align closely with active development tracks, including those covered in the [Glamsterdam Hardfork Tracker](https://ethdaily.io/glamsterdam) and the [Ethereum Privacy Tracker](https://ethdaily.io/ethereum-privacy-tracker). The improvements are part of a systematic plan to prepare the L1 for larger gas limits and shorter slot times as client optimizations mature.

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*Originally published on [ETH Daily](https://ethdaily.io/ethereum-strawmap-update-details)*