Ethereum Outlines Lean Roadmap Through 2029

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The Ethereum Foundation has outlined a proposed series of protocol upgrades through 2029 to improve transaction capacity, finality and quantum resistance. Known as the Lean Ethereum roadmap or “Strawmap”, the plan would modernise the network’s consensus, execution and data availability systems.

According to the Ethereum protocol security documentation, the initiative includes preparations against future quantum computing threats. The roadmap describes preparations for future quantum threats, not evidence of a successful quantum attack on Ethereum.

The proposed architecture targets 10,000 Layer 1 transactions per second, alongside single-slot finality of 6 to 16 seconds. Researchers also envisage Layer 2 capacity exceeding 10 million transactions per second through improved data availability sampling.

Five Targets for Lean Ethereum

The Foundation’s broader engineering vision encompasses five objectives: faster finality through Minimmit, gigagas execution capacity, teragas Layer 2 scaling, post-quantum cryptography and native privacy protections.

The security component addresses four areas: validator BLS signatures, KZG data commitments, account ECDSA signatures and zero-knowledge proofs. Ethereum’s existing ECDSA and BLS signatures could become vulnerable to sufficiently advanced quantum computers.

The roadmap also identifies dormant accounts and the migration of existing cryptographic keys as long-term security considerations.

A dedicated cryptographic engineering team established in January 2026 is developing hash-based leanXMSS signatures and leanVM technology to aggregate proofs of larger post-quantum signatures to limit network bandwidth demands.

These signatures have a substantially larger data footprint than existing BLS signatures.

The Roadmap Through 2029

The proposed upgrade sequence begins with Glamsterdam, incorporating EIP-7928 block-level access lists and EIP-7732 proposer-builder separation.

The proposed Hegotá upgrade, provisionally targeted for late 2026 or early 2027, would introduce Forward Inclusion Lists through EIP-7805 and account abstraction through EIP-8141.

EIP-8141 proposes signature agility, allowing accounts to adopt different cryptographic verification methods.

Subsequent forks I*, J* and K* would establish post-quantum infrastructure and leanVM capabilities. Fork L* targets full Lean Ethereum implementation in 2029, using recursive STARK verification to replace transaction re-execution.

Fork M* would pursue further cryptographic aggregation after 2029.

Governance and Implementation Risks

The proposed cryptographic transition remains subject to engineering tests and network governance. The Ethereum Foundation cannot independently impose upgrades on network participants.

The proposed changes require extensive testing and coordination among independent Ethereum client development teams.

Researchers must also address cryptographic implementation risks, validator bandwidth requirements and compatibility with Layer 2 networks before the architecture can become operational.