The roadmap emphasizes independence from corporate and subscription-based systems to ensure ongoing user access and privacy-first tools for finance, identity, and governance.

The walkaway test and resilience are core benchmarks: systems must function without relying on specific maintainers and withstand failures of major infrastructure providers.

Progress encompasses both the blockchain layer and the decentralized apps built atop it, which often depend on centralized services; the aim is to reduce that dependency.

Ongoing work focuses on increasing scalability without sacrificing decentralization and improving usability for non-technical users globally.

zkEVMs achieved major performance milestones with faster proofs, and when combined with PeerDAS, signal a significant shift toward a more powerful decentralized platform.

The core mission for 2026 is to rebuild Ethereum as durable decentralized infrastructure, prioritizing usability, scalability, and decentralization over short-term hype.

Developers should avoid chasing memetic trends or tokenized projects, instead focusing on durable infrastructure and reliable applications that keep the internet resilient and censorship-resistant.

Efforts at the blockchain layer aim to reduce node costs and boost resilience, while the application layer targets usable, private, outage-tolerant dapps that avoid centralized infrastructure.

For 2026, Ethereum plans to expand zkEVM capabilities, push blob throughput with PeerDAS, and strengthen governance tools and standards across blockchain and application layers while preserving usability, scalability, and decentralization.

PeerDAS was deployed to enable substantial blob throughput growth with minimal increases in node bandwidth, boosting overall capacity.

An AI-assisted disclaimer notes that some of the article content was generated with AI assistance.

Buterin argues for simultaneous improvements in usability and decentralization across both blockchain and application layers, ensuring user experience and privacy protections keep pace with technical advances.