Ethereum's base layer is about to get a lot faster, and Vitalik Buterin just spelled out exactly how fast. In a detailed response to the Ethereum Foundation's newly published "Strawmap" roadmap, as of February 26, 2026, Buterin outlined an incremental path to reduce slot times from the current 12 seconds to as low as 2 seconds, while a parallel track targets finality times between 6 and 16 seconds, down from the current 16 minutes.
The Strawmap itself, released by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake on February 25, lays out seven protocol forks on a roughly six-month cadence through 2029. Two of those forks, Glamsterdam and Hegota, are already scheduled for 2026.
The Square Root of Two Formula for Faster Blocks
Buterin's approach to cutting slot times reads like an engineering spec, not a wish list. He proposed a "sqrt(2) at a time" reduction formula: 12 seconds to 8, then 6, then 4, then 3, then 2. The last two steps, he acknowledged, "are more speculative and depend on heavy research."
"I expect that we'll reduce slot time in an incremental fashion," Buterin wrote. Each step requires validating that the peer-to-peer network can handle the tighter propagation windows before moving to the next.
The technical unlock comes from a redesigned P2P layer. Ethereum researcher Raulvk has been working on erasure coding for block propagation, where blocks are split into pieces so nodes can reconstruct them from partial data. This reduces bandwidth requirements per node while maintaining redundancy, allowing the network to handle shorter slots without sacrificing decentralization.
On the attestation side, the team is testing a system where a randomly selected subset of 256 to 1,024 validators sign each slot, removing the need for a full aggregation phase. That alone could shave multiple communication rounds off the current 3-to-4 round requirement, bringing it down to just 2.
Decoupling Slots From Finality
The more ambitious piece is the finality overhaul. Today, Ethereum's finality takes roughly 16 minutes, meaning a transaction is not irreversibly confirmed until two full epochs pass. Buterin wants to break that coupling.
"The goal is to decouple slots and finality, to allow us to reason about both separately," he explained. The proposed mechanism replaces the current multi-round process with Minimmit, a one-round Byzantine Fault Tolerant algorithm that could deliver finality in 6 to 16 seconds.
The architecture splits validators into two tiers: a fast lane of 256 validators running the LMD GHOST fork choice algorithm per slot, and a larger pool handling finality on a slower cadence. This design supports a million-validator set without cryptographic complexity, a significant improvement over the current system where scaling the validator count creates exponential communication overhead.
Five North Stars and Seven Forks
The Strawmap is not just about speed. Drake's document outlines five long-term goals for the base layer:
- Fast L1: Sub-16-second finality and 2-second slots through Single Slot Finality (SSF)
- Gigagas L1: One billion gas per second on mainnet, roughly 10,000 TPS, enabled by enshrined zkEVMs
- Teragas L2: One teragas per second across the Layer 2 ecosystem (approximately 10 million TPS) via PeerDAS data availability
- Post-Quantum L1: Transition from ECDSA to hash-based or lattice-based quantum-resistant signatures
- Private L1: Shielded ETH transfers with balance and transaction history concealment built into the protocol
Each of the seven forks carries one consensus-layer headliner and one execution-layer headliner. Glamsterdam, the first fork slated for later in 2026, features ePBS (enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation) and BALs (Block Access Lists) as its two flagship changes. Hegota follows in the second half of 2026. The remaining forks use placeholder names and stretch through 2029.
Drake framed the document as a "coordination tool rather than a prediction," but the specificity of the targets, 10,000 TPS, 2-second slots, post-quantum cryptography, signals that these are engineering goals with research backing, not aspirational talking points.
Quantum Resistance Before You Think You Need It
Buterin highlighted one consequence of the decoupled architecture that has not received enough attention: slots can be made quantum-resistant much sooner than finality.
"There is a pathway to making the slots quantum-resistant much sooner than making the finality quantum-resistant," he noted. In practice, this means that if a sufficiently powerful quantum computer appeared tomorrow, the chain would keep producing blocks. The finality guarantee would temporarily degrade, but the network would not halt.
The broader quantum track involves replacing Ethereum's current ECDSA signature scheme with post-quantum alternatives, either hash-based signatures or lattice-based cryptography. This is a multi-year effort embedded across several of the seven forks, producing what Buterin described as a "cleaner, simpler, quantum-resistant, prover-friendly, end-to-end formally-verified alternative" to the current confirmation system.
What This Means for the Ethereum Ecosystem
For users and developers, the practical impact compounds across several dimensions.
Faster slots mean DeFi protocols can offer tighter execution, reducing slippage and MEV extraction. Two-second block times would make Ethereum's L1 feel closer to Solana's user experience while retaining Ethereum's validator decentralization.
Sub-16-second finality changes how bridges, exchanges, and payment processors interact with the network. Currently, most centralized exchanges wait 12 to 64 confirmations (roughly 2.5 to 13 minutes) before crediting deposits. With finality under 16 seconds, a single confirmation would carry the same security guarantee, cutting deposit times by an order of magnitude.
The 10,000 TPS target on L1 is particularly relevant for crypto card infrastructure. On-chain top-ups for self-custody cards currently compete with DeFi transactions for block space. A 100x increase in L1 throughput would reduce gas costs proportionally, making real-time spending from on-chain wallets economically viable even during peak network usage.
For Layer 2 rollups, the Teragas target means data availability costs drop further. Projects like Base, which already process billions in stablecoin volume daily, would see their per-transaction costs approach fractions of a cent.
The Competitive Context
The timing is not accidental. Ethereum's L1 has faced sustained criticism for being too slow and too expensive relative to alternative L1s. Solana processes roughly 4,000 TPS with 400-millisecond slots. Avalanche targets sub-second finality. Even within Ethereum's own ecosystem, Layer 2s like Arbitrum and Base have absorbed most of the user activity because mainnet is too congested for everyday transactions.
The Strawmap is Ethereum's answer: instead of conceding L1 to competitors and retreating entirely to a rollup-centric model, the Foundation is investing in making the base layer competitive on raw speed while preserving its security and decentralization advantages.
Buterin noted that "layer-2 excitement has diminished somewhat," with mainnet improvements generating fresh momentum. The subtext is clear: Ethereum cannot remain a slow settlement layer and expect to retain developer and user mindshare indefinitely.
FAQ
How soon will Ethereum slots actually get faster? The first slot-time reduction (12 seconds to 8) could arrive in 2027 as part of one of the middle forks. Buterin stressed that each step requires validation on the P2P layer before proceeding. The full path to 2-second slots depends on heavy research and may not complete until 2029.
What is the Strawmap? A protocol roadmap published by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake on February 25, 2026. It outlines seven forks through 2029 with five goals: faster finality, 10,000 TPS on L1, massive L2 scaling, quantum resistance, and native privacy. Drake framed it as a coordination tool, not an official commitment.
Will this affect ETH gas fees? If L1 throughput reaches 10,000 TPS via enshrined zkEVMs, gas costs should drop substantially. More block space means less congestion and lower per-transaction fees. However, these improvements are years away from production.
Does this make Layer 2s obsolete? No. The Teragas L2 target (10 million TPS ecosystem-wide) shows that rollups remain central to Ethereum's scaling strategy. The difference is that L1 itself becomes fast enough for high-value transactions that currently get priced out.
Overview
Vitalik Buterin outlined a path to reduce Ethereum slot times from 12 seconds to 2 seconds using an incremental sqrt(2) formula, while a separate finality track targets sub-16-second confirmation through the Minimmit algorithm. These changes are part of the Ethereum Foundation's Strawmap, published by Justin Drake on February 25, 2026, which charts seven protocol forks through 2029 with five goals: fast finality, 10,000 TPS on L1, teragas-scale L2 throughput, post-quantum cryptography, and native privacy. The first two forks, Glamsterdam and Hegota, are scheduled for 2026, with the more aggressive speed and quantum targets arriving in later forks through 2029.
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