Ethereum Outlines Bold Vision In Its 10-Year ‘Strawmap’

Ethereum Outlines Bold Vision In Its 10-Year ‘Strawmap’ – What It Includes

In Brief

• Ethereum shared a long-term “strawmap” vision.
• Targets faster finality, scaling, and privacy.
• It’s a flexible, non-official roadmap.

Ethereum Foundation (EF) has introduced a new long-term roadmap called the ‘strawmap,’ outlining an ambitious vision for the network’s future. The document aggregates multiple upgrade ideas into a single visual timeline stretching toward the end of the decade. The release is sparking discussion about Ethereum (ETH)’s long-term direction.

A High-Level Roadmap For Ethereum’s Future

The ‘strawmap’ was introduced by EF researchers, including Justin Drake, on February 25 as a discussion tool rather than an official roadmap. It aims to present Ethereum’s long-term ambitions through a unified lens, combining proposals across consensus, data availability, and execution layers.

Among the headline goals are significantly faster finality, higher throughput, harder cryptography, and improved privacy. The roadmap outlines targets such as sub-minute finality, gigagas-level execution capacity, and teragas-scale data availability through rollups and data sampling.

Researchers described the document as a coordination artifact designed for advanced readers, including developers and governance participants. Unlike near-term fork planning, the ‘strawmap’ extends years into the future, offering a broader perspective on how Ethereum upgrades may evolve.

*Ethereum ‘strawmap.’ Source:* *Justin Drake/X*

Vitalik Highlights Fast Finality Path

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin amplified the discussion by breaking down one of the roadmap’s core themes: faster slots and finality. He suggested Ethereum could progressively reduce slot times while gradually improving finality guarantees.

In his explanation, Buterin outlined a potential trajectory that could eventually bring finality down from minutes today to seconds in the long run. The approach would rely on incremental improvements to networking, consensus design, and cryptography.

He also noted that major upgrades could be bundled with shifts toward post-quantum cryptography and more efficient proving systems, positioning Ethereum for long-term resilience. As he explained:

“One interesting consequence of the incremental approach is that there is a pathway to making the slots quantum-resistant much sooner than making the finality quantum-resistant, so we may well quite quickly get to a regime where, if quantum computers suddenly appear, we lose the finality guarantee, but the chain keeps chugging along.”

A Roadmap Meant To Evolve

Importantly, researchers emphasized that the strawmap is not a fixed prediction. Instead, it serves as a living framework meant to evolve alongside research breakthroughs and community feedback.

The document also reflects the decentralized nature of Ethereum governance. Rather than presenting a single authoritative plan, the strawmap acknowledges that consensus on long-term direction is inherently fluid across a diverse ecosystem.

Still, the roadmap offers insight into how core researchers are thinking about Ethereum’s trajectory. By combining scaling, cryptography, and user experience goals into one visual model, the strawmap provides a glimpse into the network’s potential endgame, even if the exact path remains uncertain.

Earlier, the EF released its 2026 protocol priorities, describing a major push to scale the blockchain as it improves usability and security, as well as introducing three core tracks: scaling performance, improving user experience, and hardening the base layer, much in accordance with the plans laid out in the more recent ‘strawmap.’