Vitalik Buterin has published a comparison of Ethereum's earlier roadmap with a new L1 'Strawmap', a planning tool that reorders the network's research priorities. Privacy and quantum safety now sit at the top, and the document signals a move away from Verkle trees toward Poseidon binary trees for state handling.
Privacy and quantum safety move up
The Strawmap emphasizes native privacy requirements, keyed nonces, and shielded pools as core research areas. Quantum safety is also listed as a higher priority, reflecting growing concern about future cryptographic threats. The shift from Verkle trees to Poseidon binary trees is part of that reordering, affecting how Ethereum manages state, generates proofs, and scales.
A research tool, not a commitment
Buterin's Strawmap is explicitly a planning and research tool, not a hard fork commitment. Ethereum's roadmap evolves through research, implementation, client work, community debate, and eventual upgrade processes. Discussion of a change is not the same as scheduled activation; any shift would need to go through the usual gauntlet of testing, client support, and community acceptance.
Why the change matters
The move from Verkle trees to Poseidon binary trees has implications for Ethereum's state handling, proofs, and scalability. It also affects future compatibility with advanced cryptographic systems, including those designed to resist quantum attacks. Ethereum's priorities are maturing, with a focus on privacy, security against future threats, state management, and sustainability for billions of users.
What's next
The Strawmap is a starting point for discussion, not a timeline. Any of these research areas would need to be implemented, tested, and coordinated across clients before they become part of a live upgrade. For now, the document gives developers and the community a clearer sense of where Ethereum's research is heading.
