Ethereum Foundation Drafts Seven-Fork ‘Strawmap’ Through 2029
Ethereum’s core researchers have proposed a “strawmap” outlining the network’s planned evolution through 2029, featuring seven hard forks, faster block times, near-instant finality, native privacy features, and quantum-resistant cryptography. The plan aims for one protocol upgrade roughly every six months, targeting slot times reduced incrementally from 12 seconds to as low as 2 seconds, and finality shortened from minutes to single-digit seconds by shifting consensus from Gasper to a one-round Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) algorithm called Minimmit. These upgrades will be paired with post-quantum hash-based signatures, a STARK-friendly hash function, and shielded ETH transfers to bolster security and privacy. Researchers stress that shorter slot times and one-round finality increase engineering demands but do not compromise decentralization or validator access, thanks to advanced peer-to-peer networking and validator committee designs. The roadmap is presented as a flexible, work-in-progress vision to anticipate ecosystem needs, progressively replacing core components to achieve a simpler, more secure, privacy-preserving, and quantum-resistant Ethereum blockchain.
