Ethereum Founder’s Comeback: Major Network Fix Unveiled As ETH Price Rebounds

Vitalik Buterin isn't just watching from the sidelines. The Ethereum co-founder has re-emerged with a technical blueprint aimed at solving the network's most persistent headaches—just as ETH's price shows signs of life.

The Scalability Squeeze

For years, Ethereum's success has been a double-edged sword. High demand clogs the network, sending transaction fees soaring and pushing developers to seek alternatives. The founder's latest proposal doesn't just tweak the engine; it suggests a fundamental redesign of how the network processes traffic.

A Technical Deep Dive

The fix targets the core consensus layer. It introduces a novel mechanism for bundling and validating transactions—bypassing current bottlenecks that throttle speed. Think of it as adding express lanes to a perpetually gridlocked highway, but for smart contracts.

Timing Is Everything

This isn't an academic exercise. The proposal lands as Ethereum claws back from its recent lows, with traders desperately looking for a fundamental catalyst beyond mere speculation. A major upgrade could be the narrative that turns a dead-cat bounce into a sustained rally. Or, as some on Wall Street might grumble, it's another 'solution' promising to finally deliver on a decade-old promise of cheap, fast transactions.

The Verdict

Buterin's return to the technical forefront signals a critical phase. The network either evolves or gets eaten alive by faster, cheaper competitors. This fix is a high-stakes bet on Ethereum's technical supremacy—because in crypto, you either scale or you fade. And let's be honest, the finance bros are getting impatient waiting for those 'ultra-sound money' dividends while paying $50 for a simple swap.

Ethereum Founder Introduces Solutions To Network Issues

Buterin has returned with solutions to long-standing network issues as ETH rebounds, pushing its price above $3,220. The ethereum founder disclosed that Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (zkEVMs) have reached an alpha stage, offering product-quality performance, while final safety audits are still ongoing. At the same time, Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS) is already live on the mainnet, delivering a critical piece of Ethereum’s next-generational infrastructure.

According to Buterin, these upgrades aren’t just minor improvements. They fundamentally transform Ethereum into a more powerful and resilient decentralized network. He compared Ethereum’s evolution to earlier peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent and Bitcoin. While BitTorrent offered massive bandwidth and decentralization, it lacked consensus. Conversely, Bitcoin ensured decentralization and consensus but at the expense of bandwidth. 

With the introduction of PeerDAS and zkEVMs, Buterin says that ETH has officially achieved complete decentralization, consensus, and high bandwidth. He describes this milestone as solving the blockchain “trilemma” with live, functioning code. He also emphasized that these developments represent a decade-long effort, tracing back to the earliest commits on data availability sampling and the initiation of zkEVM development around 2020. 

Looking ahead, the Ethereum founder expects the network’s full vision to unfold over the next four years. He disclosed that in 2026, gas limits will increase thanks to Block-Level Access Lists (BALs) and Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS), while zkEVM nodes will begin operating on segments of the network. Between 2026 and 2028, Buterin says, Ethereum will adjust gas pricing, restructure state, and integrate execution payloads into blobs to safely accommodate higher limits. 

Finally, by 2027-2030, zkEVMs are expected to become the primary method of block validation, enabling further large-scale increases in the gas limit. Buterin suggests that these upcoming advancements will solve the long-standing problem in decentralized networks, where only two of three key properties, decentralization, security, and speed, can co-exist. Thanks to its new upgrades, ETH now has all three. 

Buterin Outlines Plans For Distributed Block Building

In his post, Buterin unveiled further network upgrades focused on distributed block building. He envisions a long-term goal in which no full block is ever assembled in a single location. While this is not an immediate need, the founder believes it’s important to start developing this capability to prepare for the blockchain network’s future. 

In the meantime, he emphasized that block-building authority should remain as widely distributed as possible. This can be done in two ways: either within the protocol itself by expanding Fork Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists (FOCIL) to handle transactions, or externally through distributed builder marketplaces. According to Buterin, these initiatives aim to reduce the risk of centralized interference in transaction inclusion. At the same time, they promote greater geographical fairness across the Ethereum network.