Back to simplicity: Vitalik Buterin's crusade

In a surprising turn of events, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, is calling for a return to simplicity in the protocol. At a time when Ethereum aims to become the primary layer 1 for layer 2 solutions and the digital assets of the future, Buterin's words carry significant weight.

Buterin's goal is to make the protocol "readable by a smart high school student." To achieve this, he envisions limiting critical code to the essentials, rendering it almost as light as Bitcoin's.

One of the keys to this simplification is the 3-slot finality consensus. This model, described by Buterin himself, would eliminate complicated components like epochs, synchronization committees, and validator shuffling. As a result, we would have a simpler, more readable, and faster consensus than the current Gasper protocol.

Buterin highlights that "a basic implementation of 3-slot finality fits in 200 lines of code." In contrast, the critical part of the Gasper code is around 3,000 lines, and it's still incomplete. Fewer lines of code mean fewer bugs, broader developer involvement, and a reduction in technical elitism.

As Sassal.eth adds, a simplified L1 also makes solo staking more accessible. In a rapidly changing technological landscape, it's crucial to keep up with the latest developments.

Buterin also proposes replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V, a simple and standardized virtual machine, for even faster execution. The transition would be gentle; an on-chain EVM interpreter would enable coexistence with the old contracts.

Buterin details the technical complexities of the current EVM, which is 256-bit architecture, has useless opcodes, and requires costly maintenance. In contrast, RISC-V is a 32-bit or 64-bit machine, used in the majority of CPUs and GPUs. It's an open-source standard, already adopted by large companies like Marvell and SiFive.

This transition could offer performance gains estimated at x100 for zero-knowledge proofs (ZK), according to Buterin, who adds that it would reduce the need to maintain complex precompilations.

Moreover, Buterin envisions a single standard for all Ethereum. Currently, the blockchain uses multiple serialization formats (RLP, Benet, cbor) and Merkle tree structures (hashmap, sparse, verkle) for storage, transmission, and execution.

Buterin proposes unifying these elements around SSZ (Simple Serialization Zoom) for all three functions. He also suggests adopting a single error-correcting code, like BCH (Bose, Chadou, and Hashing), for all critical parts of the system: Drive (DAS), P2P, and storage. This would minimize code duplication, maximize verifiability, and improve the overall system's readability.

As Sassal.eth points out, this unification is crucial because we want tokens to be natively deployed on L1 and assets to be issued on standard modules.

Buterin summarizes this vision by stating that the goal is to move as much complexity as possible out of the consensus and keep only the critical part, which could be limited to a single file.

In essence, Buterin's vision is to return Ethereum to its core strength: a simple and stable layer 1, forming a clear base for a broader ecosystem of layer 2 solutions and advanced technologies like RISC-V and ZK. At a time when Ethereum wishes to remain the reference layer 1 for layer 2 solutions and the digital assets of the future, Buterin's words are a paradigm shift.