I just saw an update about Ethereum’s development plan that is quite serious, and it raises questions about what the network will look like in the next three years.

Vitalik shared a document called a strawmap, which is a blend of “strawman” ( (a draft for discussion and analysis) ) and “roadmap,” meaning a long and detailed path for Layer 1 upgrades of Ethereum through the end of the 2020s. It’s not a guaranteed promise, but a plan that invites discussion within the community.

What’s most interesting is the change in slot timing. Currently, Ethereum runs on 12-second slots, but this plan proposes reducing it gradually to 8, 6, 4, 3, and possibly 2 seconds, using the formula “sqrt(2) step by step.” It sounds like a significant change, but Vitalik points out that this isn’t about increasing risk—because peer-to-peer network improvements will keep security remain unchanged.

This p2p improvement involves a technique called erasure coding, which means that instead of all nodes downloading the entire block, the block is divided into different pieces, and only some pieces are enough to reconstruct the full block. This helps significantly reduce block propagation time without sacrificing security.

But there’s another thing that changes: certainty. Currently, Ethereum takes about 16 minutes to confirm a transaction with certainty. This strawmap plan proposes reducing that to just 6 to 16 seconds, using an algorithm called the Minimmit variant, which separates slot timing from network certainty.

What’s also interesting is preparation for attacks from quantum computers. The plan includes moving to post-quantum hash-based signatures and hash functions suitable for STARKs. Researchers are evaluating options such as Poseidon2, Poseidon1, or even BLAKE3, which is a traditional hash.

The best thing about this approach is that it’s a gradual upgrade. It’s like Ethereum’s “Ship of Theseus”—not a big-bang change that risks introducing mistakes, but a replacement of parts piece by piece while the network continues to operate.

In fact, this strawmap isn’t the final promise. It’s a proposal that invites discussion and iteration—whether the network can achieve these goals will depend on research, governance decisions, and the community’s ability to reach consensus. But the direction is clear: faster blocks, quicker confirmation, and protocols that can survive into the future.