Vitalik Buterin has completely revised the long-term development plan for the popular Ethereum network. The main priorities were quantum protection and the introduction of modern AI technologies. The updated roadmap is designed for the next three years of active work. User privacy has now become a basic requirement of the most important protocol. Developers will create special mechanisms for securely hiding balances and transactions. The new designs will allow funds to be transferred without disclosing the entire financial history. An important innovation will be the mechanism for forcing transactions to be included in the next block. This useful feature will appear in the upcoming major hard fork called Hegota. The creator of the blockchain noted the appearance of completely new elements in the updated plan. These important features were completely absent in the previous version of the document.

The second new block was post-quantum cryptography and simplification of the technical base. A series of large-scale upgrades are combined under the common name Lean Ethereum. These changes can rewrite almost every key element of the underlying protocol. Buterin estimated the completion time of these complex works at four years. In the long-term part of the plan, it is allowed to replace the current VM. Developers will use alternative formats to increase overall efficiency. The network uses modern AI tools to verify the protocol's operation. Artificial intelligence will help to perform complex formal verification of the program code. Buterin attributed this step to notable progress in the field of neural networks. The security of the system now directly depends on the capabilities of modern algorithms.

The general approach to scaling the growing network load has also changed. The developers have abandoned attempts to speed up all types of network activity equally. Now they are creating specialized mechanisms with rather strict restrictions. Such solutions lose out in versatility, but gain in complex scenarios. The updated plan also includes the concepts of gas futures. At the same time, some previous plans were completely curtailed by the developers. The Foundation has already assembled a separate team to switch to quantum-resistant cryptography. The document itself remains a living draft without a strict schedule of work. Recently, a group of researchers proposed reducing the current rewards for staking. Experts have warned about the possible loss of the main competitive advantage of the network. The basic architecture of the blockchain continues to actively adapt to new global challenges. This ensures that the network retains its leading position in the global market.