Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has publicly articulated his systematic vision for the future development of Ethereum over the next century. In a lengthy post on X, he presents a core judgment: if one day all developers disappear, Ethereum itself must still be able to operate safely and stably. He calls this concept the “Offline Test,” which also serves as the cornerstone of Ethereum’s long-term roadmap.
Vitalik emphasizes that Ethereum should be more like a tool rather than something that continuously depends on maintenance providers. He compares Ethereum to a hammer—once you have it, you can use it long-term without relying on the existence of a particular company. Based on this logic, applications running on Ethereum should not fail due to company bankruptcy, team dissolution, or attack events; users should always control their assets and data.
This highly autonomous design goal places extremely high demands on the underlying protocol. Vitalik has outlined key directions that must be achieved over the coming decades. First is resistance to quantum attacks; he believes that with reasonable upgrades, existing cryptographic structures can support security for a hundred years. Next is scalability; Ethereum needs to increase throughput to thousands of TPS through solutions like ZK-EVM verification and PeerDAS data sampling, while maintaining decentralization.
In addition, a long-term data storage system is equally critical. As on-chain activity grows, the network must complete data preservation and synchronization without increasing node burdens. Upgrades to the account system are also a focus—removing old signature rules to make wallets more flexible and secure. Meanwhile, the Gas mechanism needs to prevent malicious attacks and avoid network slowdown caused by human interference.
At the consensus layer, Vitalik stresses that proof-of-stake mechanisms must remain fair and decentralized over the coming decades, preventing the concentration of block-building power and ensuring that no single entity can control transaction ordering.
From a governance perspective, he hopes Ethereum will gradually reduce high-risk hard forks, making upgrades more like parameter adjustments to improve system stability. Ideally, Ethereum should accomplish a clear, controllable major goal each year.
Overall, Vitalik’s hundred-year roadmap is not about short-term explosive growth but emphasizes long-term survivability. He envisions Ethereum as the infrastructure for finance, identity, governance, and social systems—a public network that can be trusted for decades. This future vision of Ethereum, centered on “durability,” is redefining the long-term value measurement standards of blockchain.
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