Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has unveiled a new roadmap aimed at scaling the Ethereum network's base layer (L1) while addressing the operational burdens on node operators. Central to this proposal is the innovative concept of "partially stateless nodes," designed to enhance scalability without compromising decentralization.
This approach seeks to raise the L1 gas limit significantly, potentially by a factor of 10 to 100, enabling more transactions and smart contract interactions per block. However, such an increase traditionally raises concerns about network security and the growing difficulty for individuals to run full nodes.
Buterin’s blueprint outlines both immediate and medium-term strategies to overcome these hurdles, ensuring Ethereum remains secure, decentralized, and accessible.
Understanding the Core Challenge: Node Operation and Scalability
Increasing the gas limit on Ethereum’s mainnet is a direct method to improve throughput. Yet, it historically faces a major trade-off: as the chain processes more data, the hardware requirements for running a full node—which stores and validates the entire blockchain state—become more demanding.
This creates a centralization risk. If only well-funded entities can afford to run nodes, the network's resilience and censorship-resistant properties weaken. Buterin emphasizes the immense value of users being able to run their own full nodes, which provide a trustless, private, and uncensorable gateway to the blockchain.
The current state of affairs requires a node to store approximately 1TB of state data and 500GB of historical data. The new roadmap introduces technical innovations to drastically reduce this load while paving the way for a more scalable future.
Short-Term Scaling Strategies
To lay the groundwork for a higher gas limit, Buterin highlights several near-term priorities that focus on reducing node storage burdens.
- Implementation of EIP-4444: This pivotal proposal would limit the historical data that nodes are required to store to just the last 36 days. By pruning older data, the storage demand on individual nodes would see a substantial decrease, making it feasible for more users to participate in network validation.
- Decentralized History Storage: EIP-4444 necessitates a secure way to archive older blockchain history. The solution involves building a robust, decentralized network of participants who store and serve this data, ensuring it remains available without requiring every single node to hold it all.
- Gas Fee Restructuring: Adjusting the cost structure of gas fees can incentivize more efficient on-chain behavior. The proposal suggests increasing costs for storage operations (SSTORE) while lowering costs for computation (execution), encouraging developers to build more storage-efficient applications.
These immediate steps are crucial for maintaining node decentralization in the face of gradual scaling efforts.
The Medium-Term Vision: Stateless Verification
Looking further ahead, Buterin identifies "stateless verification" as a cornerstone technology. This mechanism allows a node to validate the correctness of a block without needing to store the entire state or large Merkle proofs.
In a stateless model, block producers provide a compact proof (like a Witness) that contains all the necessary information for validators to verify transactions. This could slash node storage requirements by an estimated 50%, creating a much lighter client.
This transition is a critical stepping stone toward the more advanced concept of partially stateless nodes.
How Partial Stateless Nodes Unlock L1 Potential
The most groundbreaking aspect of the new roadmap is the introduction of "partially stateless nodes." This hybrid model combines elements of full and stateless nodes.
A partially stateless node would not need to store the entire state of the blockchain. Instead, it would retain only a selected, small portion of the state data. Using advanced cryptographic techniques like zk-SNARKs (potentially through zkEVM integration), the node could still validate any block with absolute certainty.
This architecture decouples validation from full storage. Buterin suggests this could enable an unprecedented increase in the L1 gas limit—by 10 to 100 times—because the burden on each individual node would be managed and minimized.
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Potential Challenges and Considerations
While promising, this path forward is not without its complexities. Implementing partial state management requires deep, fundamental changes to Ethereum's consensus and execution layers. Redesigning how data is accessed, proven, and synchronized across the network is a significant engineering challenge.
Furthermore, creating a system with different node types (some storing more data than others) could lead to "asymmetric node roles." This might introduce new risks regarding network synchronization and security models, which would need to be carefully studied and mitigated.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a partially stateless node?
A partially stateless node is a proposed type of Ethereum validator that only stores a small, specific portion of the blockchain's state data. It uses cryptographic proofs to validate the entire chain's correctness without holding all the information, drastically reducing its storage needs.
How does EIP-4444 help with Ethereum scaling?
EIP-4444 allows nodes to delete historical data older than 36 days, significantly reducing their storage requirements. This lower barrier to entry helps keep node operation decentralized, which is a prerequisite for safely raising the gas limit and scaling the network.
What is the difference between stateless verification and partial statelessness?
Stateless verification refers to validating blocks using externally provided proofs instead of local state data. Partial statelessness is a broader architecture where a node chooses to store only a fragment of the state while still being able to fully validate, offering more flexibility.
Could higher gas limits make transactions cheaper?
Increasing the gas limit allows more transactions per block, which could reduce transaction fees during normal network conditions by increasing supply. However, during periods of extreme demand, fees are still subject to market dynamics.
What are the main risks of this new roadmap?
The primary risks involve the complexity of implementing deep protocol changes and the potential unforeseen security implications of having nodes with different roles and data availability responsibilities within the network.
When can we expect to see these changes implemented?
The short-term strategies like EIP-4444 are already under active discussion and development. The medium-term vision involving partial stateless nodes is a more forward-looking proposal and will require extensive research and testing before any mainnet implementation.