Vitalik Buterin stated at the Shanghai Blockchain International Week conference that Ethereum will undergo fundamental changes over the next two years, including the widespread adoption of STARK to improve scalability and privacy.

STARK for Scalability and Privacy

One of the main areas of development will be the broad implementation of STARK, a proof technology that allows the network to quickly verify the correctness of operations without requiring each participant to revalidate them.

Blocks from Multiple Participants: FOCIL with 16 Parties

Ethereum is moving toward a multi-party block formation model: the FOCIL approach involves 16 parties, which is expected to reduce the risk of censorship and transaction delays.

AI Accelerates ZK: Overhead Costs Below 10x

According to Buterin, artificial intelligence is accelerating the development and verification of complex cryptographic systems. For certain ZK-proof scenarios, overhead costs have already been reduced to less than 10x.

Programmable Privacy and Post-Quantum Signatures

Looking ahead, privacy will become "programmable": code will define not only the rules for sending assets but also access to information. Buterin expects the introduction of advanced cryptography, formal verification, and quantum-resistant signatures, after which the network will evolve from a conventional blockchain into a multi-layered cryptographic infrastructure.