The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has publicly released a new roadmap called “Strawmap” (strawman + roadmap) that brings together the long-term vision for the Ethereum mainnet in a single framework.
The document, announced by EF Protocol researcher Justin Drake, is a comprehensive and technical resource specifically designed for researchers, developers, and governance stakeholders.
Drake stated, “Strawmap aims to provide a holistic view of Ethereum Layer 1 (L1) upgrades. It’s not a guess; it’s a coordination tool that outlines a reasonable and consistent path from millions of possible outcomes.”
Strawmap takes a holistic approach to Ethereum’s L1 (mainnet) upgrades, not limiting the timeframe to just the next hard fork. The document outlines seven major upgrade processes extending to 2029, based on the assumption of a fork approximately every six months. However, it specifically notes that this timeline should be treated with caution. While the current draft is based on a human-driven development pace, it states that the processes could significantly accelerate if tools like AI-powered development and formal verification are implemented.
At the heart of the roadmap are five key “north-star” goals. The first is the “fast L1” vision, delivering finality in seconds and operating with shorter slot times. The aim is to achieve near-instantaneous finality on the Ethereum mainnet by dramatically improving the user experience. The second goal, “gigagas L1,” envisions reaching a transaction capacity of 1 gigagas per second, or approximately 10,000 transactions, thanks to zkEVMs and real-time proof-of-work generation. This is considered one of the most ambitious scaling steps to date in Ethereum’s L1 layer.
The third vision, “teragas Layer 2 (L2)”, aims for second-layer performance of 1 gigabyte per second (TPS) through data availability sampling, or approximately 10 million TPS. This allows L2 solutions to offer significantly higher bandwidth while leveraging mainnet security. The fourth goal is to build “post-quantum L1” with hash-based cryptography robust against quantum computers. Finally, the “hidden L1” vision aims to provide built-in privacy at the mainnet level through shielded ETH transfers.
Strawmap also displays upgrades on a color-coded timeline under three main headings: consensus layer (CL), data layer (DL), and execution layer (EL). Large and ambitious upgrades, called “headliners,” are limited in number per fork; in the current process, typically one consensus and one execution layer headliner are highlighted for each fork.
*This is not investment advice.
