Vitalik Buterin shares updated 2024 roadmap for Ethereum

Ethereum ETH -0.31% co-founder Vitalik Buterin has shared an updated 2024 roadmap for the blockchain, outlining the core priorities for the ecosystem moving forward. 

These priorities include the Merge (a robust proof-of-stake consensus), the Surge (a goal of 100,000 transactions per second across Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks), the Scourge (mitigating risks around MEV and liquid pooling), the Verge (easier block verification), the Purge (simplifying the protocol), and the Splurge (everything else). 

Vitalik, in his thread on X , endorsed single-slot finality (SSF) as "the easiest path to resolving a lot of the Ethereum [Proof of Stake] design's current weaknesses" and praised the progress made on L2 networks and with Verkle tree implementations. 

Vitalik also described how the Scourge priority has been re-oriented around fighting economic centralization in Ethereum in two key "theatres:" MEV and liquid stake pooling. The growth of Ethereum staking service Lido has raised concerns around economic centralization in Ethereum since the blockchain's transition to a proof-of-stake consensus. 

Aside from other small changes, the core priorities of the Ethereum ecosystem remain the same from last year's outline. Vitalik declined to estimate a timeline for the changes to the ecosystem, though the changes are ordered roughly according to priority.