Ethereum is no longer just a blockchain for Vitalik Buterin

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28 Sep 2026Mattis Meichler

A "hybrid architecture" according to Vitalik Buterin

Ethereum still carries the name of a blockchain, but this definition is becoming increasingly reductive. This is the thesis defended by Vitalik Buterin in a post published on Sunday. The co-founder of the network now describes Ethereum as a "global cryptographic computer," combining blockchain, cryptographic proofs, and decentralized computing.

Vitalik Buterin compares in his post Bitcoin in 2009 to Ethereum in 2015, today, and looking ahead to 2030. According to him, almost all the classic properties of a blockchain are evolving.

The cryptographic world computer:https://t.co/ueayODeUPo

My attempt to express in somewhat concise terms the true meaning of basically everything planned to happen to Ethereum starting from the fork after Hegota. It's really not just a blockchain anymore. It's a hybrid...

--- vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 27, 2026

Historically, each node had to download the data of a block and redo the calculations to verify them. But as Vitalik Buterin explains, Ethereum is moving towards a different model. Thanks to PeerDAS, nodes can verify only samples of data, while cryptographic proofs will confirm that a calculation has indeed been performed.

The network thus combines the founding principles of Bitcoin with newer technologies, notably zero-knowledge proofs. These proofs, now mainly used by applications and layer 2, are expected to gradually play a role directly at the heart of the Ethereum protocol.

Vitalik Buterin thus speaks of a "hybrid architecture," in which the traditional blockchain is no longer just a part of a larger whole.

Hegota, the last "classic" update

This transformation is expected to accelerate with Hegotá, the update that will follow Glamsterdam and whose arrival on the mainnet is currently aimed for the second quarter of 2027, without a definitive date.

Vitalik Buterin believes that Hegotá could be the last fork that an Ethereum developer from 2015 would understand. The future will rely more on recursive proofs, formal verification, optimized consensus, and, in the longer term, mechanisms resistant to quantum computers.

The Ethereum Foundation is also aiming for quantum resistance of layer 1 across its various layers by the end of 2029.

Rethinking applications

This evolution could also change the way applications are built on Ethereum. Today, some operations are executed directly on the network, step by step. In the future, part of these calculations could be performed elsewhere or distributed among several machines, then simply verified by Ethereum through cryptographic proofs.

The idea is to no longer ask all the computers on the network to do exactly the same work. Several machines could process different tasks in parallel, while a mathematical proof would then verify that the result is correct.

For Vitalik Buterin, this approach could transform decentralization into a performance advantage, whereas it is often seen today as a necessary cost to ensure security.

Ethereum would thus technically remain a blockchain, but its operation would gradually move away from the classic model.

Sources: Blog of Vitalik Buterin, Vitalik Buterin on X

Mattis Meichler378 articles
Journalist passionate about Blockchain, the Web3 ecosystem, and Digital Art, I chronicle the evolution of these emerging sectors.

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