The Ethereum Foundation team released a preliminary strategic roadmap for upgrades to the Ethereum blockchain. The document outlines seven hard forks and defines five key technical development milestones for the project.
Justin Drake, Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, introduced the “Strawmap,” a draft roadmap for the evolution of Ethereum’s L1. The document spans multiple years and presents a comprehensive view of the protocol’s evolution. It’s published on a dedicated website and is intended for researchers, developers, and Ethereum ecosystem governance participants.
The current version includes seven network upgrades through 2029, with one hard fork scheduled approximately every six months. The authors emphasize that the timeline is indicative, active use of automated development and formal verification could significantly accelerate the pace of progress.
Consensus layer upgrades follow an alphabetical naming pattern: Altair, Bellatrix, Capella, Deneb, Electra, Fulu, and so on. The upcoming hard forks have already received final names, Glamsterdam and Hegotá. For more distant phases, temporary designations such as I* and J* are being used.
“Strawmap” groups upgrade proposals into three categories: consensus layer (CL), data layer (DL), and execution layer (EL). The document also distinguishes between strategic objectives, prominent upgrades (a.k.a. headliners), and off-chain solutions, while outlining the technical interdependencies between different components.
Each hard fork is expected to include no more than one major consensus layer upgrade and one execution layer upgrade — an approach designed to maintain the six-month release cadence. For example, in Glamsterdam, these headliners are ePBS (at the consensus layer) and BALs (at the execution layer). An exception will be the L* phase, which includes two major upgrades tied to a broader consensus reform.
The plan also defines five target development goals for the network:
- Fast L1. Accelerating the base layer by shortening slot times and achieving transaction finality within seconds.
- Gigagas L1. Reaching throughput of 1 gigagas per second (~10,000 TPS) through the implementation of zkEVM and real-time proving.
- Teragas L2. Scaling to 1 gigabyte per second (~10 million TPS) via data availability sampling.
- Post-quantum L1. Implementing quantum-resistant cryptography based on hash functions.
- Private L1. Introducing built-in privacy features, including shielded ETH transfers.
The Ethereum Foundation emphasizes that “Strawmap” isn’t an official development roadmap for the entire ecosystem, as it’s impossible to establish a unified position across all participants in a decentralized environment. Even within the EF Protocol division itself, which includes around 100 contributors, there are differing viewpoints. The document serves as a coordination tool and will be reviewed at least once per quarter to reflect research progress, governance decisions, and community feedback.
In 2025, the Ethereum Foundation presented a ten-year roadmap aimed at strengthening the blockchain’s resilience to quantum threats, simplifying its architecture, and increasing infrastructure throughput. In early 2026, post-quantum security was announced as a strategic priority for the next decade, with a dedicated team formed to gradually implement quantum-resistant solutions across the project’s blockchain infrastructure.
