Vitalik Buterin Maps Ethereum’s Post-Hegotá Cryptographic Future

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said Ethereum’s Hegotá upgrade could be the network’s last “normal” fork before development shifts toward technologies that include recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, optimized consensus and quantum-safe cryptography. 

On Sunday, Buterin said Hegotá, which is planned for 2027, is likely to be the final upgrade whose features and technology would still be recognizable to someone familiar with Ethereum in 2015. 

He said PeerDAS, which allows nodes to verify data availability by sampling portions of data rather than downloading everything, marked the beginning of Ethereum’s transition “from being just a blockchain to being something much more powerful.” 

Buterin described the transition as Ethereum’s evolution into a “cryptographic world computer,” moving beyond a model in which nodes simply download and re-execute transactions toward an architecture combining blockchains with cryptographic verification, privacy and decentralized offchain components.

The shift could change how Ethereum applications are built by moving more computation offchain while using the base layer to verify results, settle transactions and preserve access to shared onchain state.

What Ethereum’s ‘world computer’ could look like

Buterin’s post prompted discussion over how much computation and state should ultimately move offchain, and what Ethereum itself should continue to handle directly as the network evolves.

Ethereum researcher Barnabé Monnot said moving computation offchain while committing to and proving the results onchain could significantly reduce the work required from the network and enable lighter nodes. 

However, Monnot argued that a “world computer” should still keep important records that its applications depend on directly onchain. He said doing so would let users see what is happening and interact with applications directly, without relying on external servers or intermediaries.

Related: Vitalik Buterin shares priorities for new ‘Lean Ethereum’ strawmap

Pseudonymous commentator Cryptographic said the architecture could expand what decentralized finance (DeFi) applications can do by allowing more complex computation to occur outside smart contracts while Ethereum verifies that resulting transactions comply with protocol rules.

Cryptographic said DeFi lending was one example, where collateral analysis, liquidation routing, or matching borrowers and lenders could happen outside the chain before Ethereum verifies and settles the outcome. 

Crypto lawyer Gabriel Shapiro questioned how much demand exists for proof-based systems compared with traditional trust-based models. He said that many existing financial services rely on reputation, regulation and legal enforcement rather than continuous cryptographic verification. 

Magazine: What is formal verification, and why does Vitalik Buterin think AI can help?