Blockchain would have to become useful in 10 years: Vitalik Buterin on the future of Ethereum

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that cryptocurrency should become helpful by 2032. Also, during a closed press conference in Seoul, the businessman spoke about the ZK-Rollup (zero-knowledge rollup) technology, the problems Ethereum will face shortly, and why the next few years should be a test site for blockchain applications. So, less talk, more action. 

Update to protect

During his speech, Vitalik Buterin explained that blockchain applications would have to prove their usefulness in the next ten years rather than promising that they could be helpful in the future. He added that Ethereum would need to be updated to protect itself from quantum computing attacks in the future, but it may be several decades before any updates are required.

Speaking of updates, the businessman refers to the merge, the process of switching the network from the Proof-of-Work mechanism to Proof-of-Stake, which, according to the plan, will occur on September 19.

But currently, as Buterin said, some blockchain applications only promise what they will become in the future.

“I think the next ten years is when crypto has to transform into something that is not based on promises of being useful in the future but is useful,” he said. Because many applications are promising in theory, they’re just entirely not viable because of scaling issues today,” he said.

ZK-rollup

Zero Knowledge Rollups is a Layer 2 network created for the Ethereum blockchain. This technology takes the load off the leading Ethereum network using two functions:

• Splitting transactions into convenient groups.
• Moving a specific part of computational processes outside of the Ethereum blockchain. The ZK-Rollup solution is one of the most promising mechanisms for scaling Ethereum.

Current projects aimed at overcoming the barriers and constraints of first-tier blockchains are not always compatible with each other. They also have problems with decentralization. But ZK-Rollups improves the already established Tier 2 networks used to scale Ethereum. This gives projects an improved level of interoperability and increased system security.

Among the disadvantages: so far, a low level of compatibility of some smart contracts. The developers already know how to solve the problem and are actively working on it.

“ZK is a technology that’s just hard to build. There are a lot of challenges, and Optimistic Rollup a construction in which, instead of verifying every transaction at layer 2, the main network transmits them and "optimistically" assumes that they are legitimate if not challenged by anyone technology is more mature. In the longer term, ZK-Rollups will eventually beat Optimistic Rollups because they have these fundamental advantages, like not needing to have a seven-day withdrawal period,” he said. 

Buterin added that Ethereum would undergo future developments to be safe from potential quantum computing attacks, but that’s far away, and that could be 10, 20, or 30 years from now. 

Miners’ migration

Vitalik Buterin also considers what awaits his network after transitioning to the Proof-of-Stake algorithm.

According to him, the merge event will force many miners to leave the network to continue mining the cryptocurrency using “classic” rules, that is, using the Proof-of-Work algorithm. Millions of users will switch to Ethereum Classic, and some will create a new fork. However, Buterin is sure that such migration will not prevent the ETH network from switching to PoS.

“I don’t think another fork will harm Ethereum in any way. In general, from my impressions, almost everyone I’ve talked to in the Ethereum ecosystem supports the direction of PoS,” the Ethereum founder said.

In the long term, the update will lead to the following:

• power consumption of the Ethereum network will be reduced by more than 99.9% (due to the rejection of PoW mining);
• users storing funds in the Ethereum blockchain will not need to move or otherwise change the way they access their funds after the upgrade;
• transactions will become more secure (to gain control of the blockchain, attackers must control more than 66% of the ETH supplied);
• PoS is more decentralized and censor-resistant;
• the fee per block will drop from ETH 12800 to ETH 1280 per day;
• Ethereum blockchain will be more environmentally friendly in the future;
• there will be no need for expensive mining installations.

Ethereum’s switching to the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm is months away, and the crypto mining community is increasingly protesting the abandonment of the energy-consuming Proof-of-Work model. And one of the largest Ethereum miners in China, Chandler Guo, announced his intention to create an alternative cryptocurrency network called ETHPOW, whose blockchain will continue to function based on the PoW algorithm.

However, at the moment, it is still too early to talk about the bright future of the new coin. BitMEX analysts note that after the separation of Ether, most users and issuers of coins based on the ERC-20 protocol will support the real Ethereum, devaluing the ETHPOW ecosystem. Experts also draw attention to the considerable number of technical problems developers will face.