Vitalik Buterin shares Ethereum roadmap and addresses scalability

Unlike Bitcoin, the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, is actively involved in the future of the technology. At a recent press conference, he decided to reveal the long-term roadmap of Ethereum’s future development, while also addressing the long-debated issues of scalability.

It is expected that storage costs are bound to increase with the expansion of the technology, therefore, Buterin mentioned that solutions meant to reduce these costs are needed. He commented that: "Scalability is probably problem number one [...] There’s a graveyard of systems that claim to solve the scalability problem but don't. It's a very significant and hard challenge. These are just known facts.”

Unlike Bitcoin, the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, is actively involved in the future of the technology. At a recent press conference, he decided to reveal the long-term roadmap of Ethereum’s future development, while also addressing the long-debated issues of scalability.

It is expected that storage costs are bound to increase with the expansion of the technology, therefore, Buterin mentioned that solutions meant to reduce these costs are needed. He commented that: "Scalability is probably problem number one [...] There’s a graveyard of systems that claim to solve the scalability problem but don't. It's a very significant and hard challenge. These are just known facts.”

According to the co-founder, sharding may be a viable solution to reduce future costs, while also handling the scalability issues. This process consists of finding a way to partition data into specific subsets, thus having each node only store a small part of the entire Ethereum network, rather than all of it. This mechanism will not only ensure accountability, but if needed, it’ll also help nodes rely on others to get the data requires to carry out transactions and support the network. The only issue associated with this solution would be having nodes send accurate information to one another.

Buterin explained that splitting the Ethereum network into two shards would solve the governance problem as well. With this in mind, one shard would handle the Ethereum network as it is now, whereas the other would handle the universe of networks and other protocols associated with the technology. In return, this technical change would grant the Ethereum network future stability, and also allow developers quickly test new possible changes.

At this time, the Ethereum community is divided into several sides, all of which want what’s best for the network according to their very own interests. Finding the perfect solution will likely require a lot more work, therefore many think that it’ll be a while before these changes are implemented.

Regardless, the road map for the future of the technology looks promising, and if all goes well, Ethereum’s popularity, value and potential will further increase in the future.