The Ethereum Foundation (FE) has unveiled a long-term technology roadmap, Strawmap, looking ahead to the next decade. Strawmap, a blend of “strawman” and “roadmap,” is a draft blueprint aimed at viewing layer-1 protocol upgrades from a long-term and integrated perspective.

On Feb. 26, CoinDesk reported the document was presented by foundation researcher Justin Drake (저스틴 드레이크). It includes a plan to carry out seven hard forks by 2029 to gradually restructure the network. A hard fork is a major upgrade requiring all participating nodes to update their software, fundamentally changing the blockchain’s structure.

The roadmap set out five core goals. First, it aims to cut transaction finality time on Ethereum’s main chain, layer 1 (L1), to a few seconds and secure throughput of about 10,000 transactions per second. It also targets expanding throughput on layer-2 (L2) networks such as Arbitrum and Optimism to 10 million transactions per second to maximise scalability. Another key task is to introduce quantum-resistant cryptography and strengthen privacy through “Shielded Transfers.”

Shortening transaction finality time stands out as the most notable change in the roadmap. It currently takes about 16 minutes for a transaction to become final on Ethereum. The foundation plans to cut this to about 8 seconds by introducing a new consensus algorithm called “Minimmit.” Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin (비탈릭 부테린) explained the slot time, the interval between block creation, can be reduced step by step from 12 seconds to 8 seconds, 6 seconds, 4 seconds and ultimately 2 seconds. He likened this approach to a “Ship of Theseus” strategy of replacing components one by one rather than changing the entire network at once.

The plan also includes stronger security to prepare for quantum computing. Some believe there is still enough time before quantum computers threaten existing cryptographic systems, but Ethereum treats it as a concrete technical task and is pushing to introduce hash-based signatures. The measure is intended to maintain security even if quantum computers can break existing public-key cryptography.

On privacy, shielded transfers are set to be added. All transactions on the Ethereum network are currently public, but adding shielding could protect transaction amounts and sender and recipient information. It is seen as an attempt to find a balance between transparency in corporate accounting and protection of personal financial information.

The roadmap is closer to a long-term project to redesign the consensus structure, cryptographic system and scalability model as a whole than an announcement aimed at a short-term price rise. Despite the technical ambition, short-term market sentiment remains conservative. It remains to be seen whether upgrades planned over the coming years lead to real performance improvements, and whether market assessments shift accordingly.

Now, the quantum resistance roadmap. Today, four things in Ethereum are quantum-vulnerable: * consensus-layer BLS signatures * data availability (KZG commitments+proofs) * EOA signatures (ECDSA) * Application-layer ZK proofs (KZG or groth16) We can tackle these step by step:…