‘Lean Ethereum’ will not compromise security for speed, says Vitalik Buterin – Here’s how

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has doubled down on his calls for a simpler, more secure network. 

On Wednesday, the 18th of March, he reiterated that, through the ‘lean Ethereum’ plan, the chain will no longer be forced to trade between security and speed like other blockchains. 

The ‘lean Ethereum’ roadmap is an ambitious long-term strategy to simplify the network design, fast-track the settlement of transactions, and make it easier to run on simple devices like smartphones.

Eventually, Buterin wants smartphones to become the network’s new nodes. 

This would mean merging the current, separately run execution and beacon clients that power the Ethereum network into a unified system. While critics had shown reservations about the vision and its inherent security risks, Buterin believes otherwise. 

For him, that would be the only way to have a ‘faster’ chain like Solana while maintaining Bitcoin-like security.  

But the plan goes beyond just a simplified system and advanced security. 

Ethereum’s new ‘constitution’

Last week, the Ethereum Foundation unveiled a strategic document that it called ‘part manifesto, part constitution’ to guide its long-term vision and planning. 

At the core of this roadmap is a new philosophy dubbed CROPS (censorship-resistant, open source, private, and secure) that will anchor all future plans and network upgrades. 

The end goal is to ensure Ethereum preserves user freedom and can survive even if the Ethereum Foundation ceases to exist. 

Like everything else, these updates have been met with divergent views. Supporters see it as a way to reinforce Ethereum as a leader in decentralized networks and a net positive for ETH. For critics, however, potential security risks and inconsistent roadmaps make it difficult to bet on ETH. 

Only time will tell which side was right. 

What’s next for ETH?

Meanwhile, Bitwise research analyst Max Shannon found that Bitcoin’s momentum drives ETH’s price moves far more than macro factors, treasury firms’ demand, or Spot ETH ETF flows. 

In fact, the recent 5% BTC price drop triggered by de-risking ahead of the Fed rate decision dragged ETH lower too. 

With most of the leveraged liquidity below price action, the long squeeze could drag ETH to $2213 or $2154, with a larger pool at $2053. At the time of writing, the altcoin dropped by 6% from nearly $2.4k to $2.2k.

Final Summary

• Buterin now believes that a simplified, lean Ethereum could help it reach Solana-like speed while still offering Bitcoin-like security. 
• After a recent recovery to nearly $2400, ETH gave back some of the gains as traders de-risked ahead of the Fed rate decision.