Vitalik Buterin Aims to Make Ethereum as Accessible as Bitcoin
Buterin shared plans for a long-term strategy that will significantly simplify Ethereum technology.
Shaurya Malwa | Edited by Parikshit Mishra Updated May 5, 2025 3:14 PM Published May 5, 2025 12:15 PM
Key points:
- Vitalik Buterin supports the idea of simplifying the Ethereum protocol to reduce its complexity while maintaining its benefits.
- Ethereum's increasing technical fragmentation makes it difficult to support and attract new developers.
- The proposed changes include redesigning the consensus layer and replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine with a simpler alternative.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has expressed the need to significantly simplify the protocol, seeking to reduce its complexity to a level comparable to Bitcoin, while maintaining its unique advantages in the field of programmability and scalability.
In a blog post published on Saturday, Buterin noted that Ethereum's growing technical complexity — from its consensus mechanisms to its virtual machine — makes it difficult to maintain, audit, and attract new developers.
He proposed a multi-year strategic plan aimed at reducing Ethereum's “consensus-critical” codebase and reducing the risk of the protocol becoming overly technical and brittle.
“Even a smart high school student can fully understand and master the Bitcoin protocol,” Buterin noted. “A programmer can build a client as a hobby.”
Complexity at a high level
Ethereum’s base layer has become even more confusing due to new features, consensus projects, and legacy code. While this has opened up opportunities for powerful applications like smart contracts and zero-knowledge proofs, it has also increased the likelihood of errors, made protocol upgrades more difficult, and raised the barrier to entry for new developers.
In contrast, Bitcoin's core protocol remains relatively unchanged and minimalist: blocks, transactions, proof of work, and coin outputs.
Buterin's proposed simplification area involves redesigning Ethereum's current consensus layer (the “beacon chain”), which includes complex mechanisms such as epochs, slot shuffling, and synchronizing committees.
Another option is to gradually improve the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), but eventually replace it entirely with a simpler VM like RISC-V. This lightweight, open standard could improve performance for zero-knowledge proofs and greatly simplify code.
However, one of the main challenges remains maintaining backward compatibility with existing Ethereum applications.
Buterin proposed a phased approach in which the current EVM and the new virtual machine could operate simultaneously, and legacy features could be moved to “non-consensus” layers.
