Vitalik Buterin announced on July 4, 2026 that Ethereum researchers meeting in Berlin had published an updated "Lean Ethereum" strawmap, a draft roadmap laying out five priority areas and sev
Vitalik Buterin announced on July 4, 2026 that Ethereum researchers meeting in Berlin had published an updated "Lean Ethereum" strawmap, a draft roadmap laying out five priority areas and seven protocol forks through 2029. The document, maintained by EF Architecture, marks the most detailed public statement yet of Ethereum's medium-term technical direction.
Buterin said that following a gathering of Ethereum researchers in Berlin, the team published the updated roadmap at strawmap.org. The site describes the document as a strawman L1 roadmap produced by EF Protocol and maintained by EF Architecture. For related coverage, see Buterin's 4-year Ethereum roadmap: Faster, quantum-resistant.
The term "strawmap" is intentional. It signals that the roadmap is a living draft, not finalized protocol policy. The site states the document should receive at least quarterly updates, giving the community a regularly refreshed view of where core development is heading. For related coverage, see Active Crypto VC Investors Fell to 651 in Q2 2026 From Record High.
This distinction matters. Unlike a binding commitment, the strawmap represents rough directional consensus among Ethereum Foundation researchers. Final protocol decisions still run through Ethereum's open governance process, including All Core Devs calls. Readers who followed Buterin's earlier four-year Ethereum roadmap will recognize the iterative approach, but the strawmap formalizes it with a public, versioned document. For related coverage, see Kraken Adds Tokenized Apple, Nvidia, Tesla Shares as Collateral.
The strawmap FAQ lists five north stars guiding the roadmap: fast L1, gigagas L1, teragas L2, post-quantum L1, and private L1. Third-party reporting has framed the broader structure around three pillars: lean consensus, lean data, and lean execution.
The gigagas L1 north star targets roughly 1 gigagas per second of throughput on the base layer, translating to approximately 10,000 TPS. This is orders of magnitude above Ethereum's current capacity and would position L1 as a high-performance settlement layer in its own right.
The teragas L2 north star is even more ambitious. The official FAQ frames Ethereum's L2 target as 1 gigabyte per second, or roughly 10 million TPS. That figure dwarfs the approximately 1 million TPS cited in some competitor coverage, reflecting the strawmap's own language rather than third-party summaries.
L2 north star 10M TPS The official FAQ frames Ethereum's L2 north star as 1 gigabyte per second, or roughly 10 million TPS. Source: strawmap.orgThe post-quantum L1 north star addresses the long-term threat that quantum computing poses to current cryptographic schemes. Ethereum.org's own documentation on quantum resistance outlines structured milestones targeting completion of core post-quantum infrastructure by approximately 2029. This area has been a recurring theme in Buterin's public comments on quantum-resistance planning.
The private L1 north star is the least discussed of the five but signals that privacy-preserving features remain a priority at the protocol level. The strawmap includes it alongside scaling and security rather than treating it as an afterthought.
The roadmap spans seven forks by 2029 at a rough cadence of one fork every six months. That pace would represent a significant acceleration compared to Ethereum's recent upgrade history, where major forks have sometimes been separated by a year or more.
Roadmap cadence 7 forks by 2029 The official strawmap says the roadmap spans seven forks through 2029 at a rough six-month cadence. Source: strawmap.orgThe quarterly update cycle is what makes the strawmap worth tracking beyond its initial publication. Rather than a one-time announcement that fades from relevance, EF Architecture has committed to revising the document regularly, giving developers and investors a living reference point for protocol direction.
The governance caveat remains essential context. The strawmap reflects the views of EF Architecture, not a binding vote by the broader Ethereum community. Final protocol direction is still determined through open governance, meaning any of these priorities could shift as All Core Devs and other stakeholders weigh in over the next three years.
ETH traded at $1,768.43 with a 24-hour change of roughly 0.62% when the strawmap was published. Market cap stood near $213.4 billion with 24-hour volume of approximately $8.2 billion.
The muted price response is notable given the scale of the roadmap's ambitions. The Fear and Greed Index sat at 23, labeled Extreme Fear, suggesting broader risk-off sentiment overshadowed the technical announcement.
For investors, the concrete watch points are the strawmap's quarterly updates, the sequencing of the first forks, and whether post-quantum milestones stay on the 2029 track laid out in the official documentation.
It is a publicly available draft roadmap for Ethereum's Layer 1, maintained by EF Architecture and published at strawmap.org. The document outlines five priority areas and seven planned forks through 2029, updated at least quarterly.
The name signals that this is a strawman proposal, a starting point for discussion rather than a final commitment. It reflects rough directional consensus among Ethereum Foundation researchers but does not override Ethereum's open governance process.
The strawmap targets seven forks by 2029 at roughly six-month intervals. Post-quantum infrastructure milestones aim for completion around 2029. However, the exact timing depends on ongoing development progress and decisions made through All Core Devs and other governance channels.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.
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