Vitalik reveals a new phase in the Ethereum roadmap: ‘The Scourge’

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has added a caller signifier to the Ethereum method roadmap, 1 that aims to amended censorship absorption and decentralization of the Ethereum network.

The Ethereum network’s caller plans were revealed by Buterin successful a Nov. 5 Twitter station — which introduced “The Scourge” successful a present expanded six-part method roadmap.

Following Ethereum’s displacement to a proof-of-stake (PoS) network connected Sept. 15, Ethereum has been successful the 2nd signifier — “The Surge — with the extremity of getting to 100,000 transactions per 2nd done rollups.

The updated method roadmap present inserts “The Scourge” arsenic the caller 3rd stage, which volition past beryllium followed by the previously-known stages — The Verge, The Purge and The Splurge.

Updated roadmap diagram! pic.twitter.com/MT9BKgYcJH

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) November 4, 2022

According to the Ethereum roadmap, the extremity of The Scourge is to “ensure reliable and credibly neutral transaction inclusion and to debar centralization and different protocol risks from MEV.”

The Ethereum co-founder’s telephone for a much “credibly neutral” statement furniture comes arsenic miners person been known to exploit transactions connected the Ethereum network to their favor.

Buterin has previously described a credibly neutral mechanics arsenic 1 which "does not discriminate for oregon against immoderate circumstantial people."

Miner Extractable Value (MEV) occurs erstwhile a miner front-runs different participants successful the web by deciding which transactions are to beryllium placed successful a artifact and successful what order.

This allows miners to duplicate each winning deals from the mempool and execute their transactions up of arbitrage seekers oregon anyone attempting to marque a profit.

As a result, Ethereum has go associated with a higher grade of centralization and censorship pursuing The Merge.

Following the network’s modulation to PoS, the percentage of blocks compliant with the U.S Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) reached 73% connected Nov. 3 — a fig galore see to beryllium acold excessively high. 

Ethereum bull and laminitis of The Daily Gwei Anthony Sassano antecedently said successful a Twitter station connected Oct. 15 that censorship absorption is “more important than scaling” astatine the existent moment.

— sassal.eth (@sassal0x) October 15, 2022

While the afloat details of The Scourge person not been disclosed, the Ethereum co-founder precocious projected a “Partial Block Auction” solution wherever a artifact builder is lone afforded the close to determine immoderate of the contents of the block.

Other proposals to combat censorship astatine the statement layer person been enactment guardant — specified arsenic Ethereum probe and improvement institution Flashbots’ Single Unifying Auctions for Value Expression (SUAVE) solution.

Related: ‘Not adjacent a azygous TX has been censored connected ETH’ — Cyber Capital founder

Buterin besides confirmed an update to “The Verge” — which volition present impact the integration of Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (SNARK) exertion onto Ethereum.

The summation of SNARKs volition add overmuch needed privacy-preserving features to the Ethereum network portion inactive allowing for the anonymous transactions to beryllium traceable.

Buterin besides noted that a “more explicit relation for quantum-proofness” would beryllium implemented astatine assorted stages of the Ethereum roadmap arsenic a indispensable constituent of the “endgame” protocol.