Vitalik Buterin Calls for Simpler, Bitcoin-Inspired Ethereum Design

Ethereum’s co-founder advocates for a leaner, more resilient protocol by trimming technical complexity.

In a move that could reshape Ethereum’s long-term development trajectory, co-founder Vitalik Buterin is calling for a significant shift in the network’s design philosophy. In a blog post published on May 3, Buterin urged the Ethereum community to embrace a “Bitcoin-like” minimalist approach aimed at reducing complexity, improving security, and enhancing developer accessibility.

This appeal arrives at a critical moment as Ethereum continues its transition into a fully matured decentralized platform. With ongoing upgrades like Danksharding and the increasing complexity of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Buterin argues that the protocol risks becoming too convoluted, which could hinder its scalability and resilience in the years to come.

Rethinking Ethereum’s Design: Complexity vs. Sustainability

At the heart of Buterin’s argument is the concern that Ethereum’s existing architecture has become too intricate. While its flexibility and programmability have enabled a vast ecosystem of decentralized applications and financial tools, this sophistication comes at a cost.

Buterin contends that the protocol’s technical depth creates high barriers to entry for developers, drives up infrastructure costs, and centralizes decision-making within a small circle of technically proficient contributors.

“Even a smart high school student is capable of fully wrapping their head around and understanding the Bitcoin protocol,” Buterin wrote, contrasting Ethereum’s steep learning curve with Bitcoin’s relative simplicity.

He argues that simplicity should be treated as a first-class design principle alongside decentralization. The goal, he says, is not to limit Ethereum’s capabilities but to make them more sustainable and accessible over the long term.

Key Areas for Protocol Simplification

Buterin outlines three strategic areas where Ethereum could shed complexity without compromising its core functionality:

1. Consensus Layer Optimization

One of the first targets for simplification is the consensus mechanism—the system that ensures all nodes agree on the state of the blockchain. Ethereum’s current Proof-of-Stake (PoS) design includes a large validator set and a multi-step finality process, which Buterin sees as operationally heavy.

He proposes:

• Reducing the number of active validators, which would lower infrastructure and communication overhead.
• Streamlining the finality gadget, making block confirmations faster and more predictable.

Buterin notes that because the consensus layer is loosely coupled with Ethereum’s execution environment, these changes can be implemented with minimal disruption to the broader system.

“The nice thing about the consensus layer is that it is relatively disconnected from EVM execution,” he explained.

2. Simplifying the Ethereum Virtual Machine

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the engine that runs smart contracts. Over time, it has grown more powerful but also more difficult to maintain and upgrade. Buterin suggests overhauling the EVM by introducing an alternative execution environment based on RISC-V, an open-source and simpler computing architecture.

Key suggestions include:

• Supporting RISC-V as an optional execution path alongside the current EVM.
• Replacing precompiles (hardcoded complex functions) with on-chain canonical implementations, which are easier to update and audit.
• Developing a RISC-V-based EVM interpreter, making the execution layer more modular and sustainable.

This dual-runtime model would allow developers to write contracts in either environment, while paving the way for smoother future protocol upgrades.

3. Protocol-Wide Standardization

Buterin also calls for unifying various infrastructure elements within the Ethereum stack. He criticizes the current use of multiple tools and methods for similar functions across the network, which adds unnecessary redundancy and confusion.

To streamline operations, he suggests standardizing:

• Erasure codes (used for data recovery and redundancy),
• Serialization formats (how data is stored and transmitted),
• Merkle tree constructions (used for cryptographic proofs).

“There is typically very little or no benefit to using different protocols to do the same thing in different places,” Buterin noted, highlighting coordination issues within Ethereum’s development roadmap.

Why Now? Strategic Timing for Ethereum’s Evolution

Buterin’s proposal comes at a pivotal time for Ethereum. The network has successfully transitioned to Proof-of-Stake and is gradually implementing scalability solutions like proto-danksharding. However, these advancements add layers of complexity that may challenge Ethereum’s original ethos of permissionless innovation and decentralization.

His call for a simpler design isn’t just a technical preference—it’s a philosophical reminder of what made blockchain successful to begin with: accessibility, security, and trustless architecture. As Ethereum increasingly supports institutional-grade applications and sophisticated DeFi platforms, ensuring its core remains understandable and modifiable by a wider base of contributors could help preserve its decentralized character.

Moreover, reducing complexity could help:

• Lower costs for node operators and developers.
• Increase the diversity of client software implementations.
• Improve resilience against bugs and attacks, especially those stemming from obscure or under-audited code.

A Bitcoin-Inspired Future?

By referencing Bitcoin’s model, Buterin is not suggesting Ethereum abandon its programmability or roadmap. Instead, he points to Bitcoin’s elegant simplicity and long-term stability as inspiration for Ethereum’s next phase.

In Bitcoin, the base protocol has remained largely unchanged for over a decade, which has helped it maintain broad community consensus and high security guarantees. Ethereum, on the other hand, has been in near-constant evolution. Buterin seems to suggest that once Ethereum achieves scalability and protocol maturity, it should transition into a more stable and minimalist posture.

This doesn’t mean halting innovation but rather consolidating progress and making it sustainable.

Conclusion: Toward a Leaner Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin’s push for a simpler Ethereum design marks a significant moment of introspection for the world’s second-largest blockchain. As Ethereum grows in capability and adoption, the risks of excessive complexity loom large.

By trimming the fat and reinforcing simplicity as a core value, Ethereum could become more secure, developer-friendly, and resilient. But achieving that vision will require alignment across a vast and diverse ecosystem of contributors, developers, and stakeholders.

The challenge now lies in translating this vision into actionable upgrades—without sacrificing Ethereum’s unique strengths. If successful, Buterin’s minimalist blueprint could future-proof the network for the next generation of decentralized innovation.