Ethereum is leading the development of scalability, account abstraction, and cryptographic applications through its roadmap, DevCon discussions, and the upcoming Pectra upgrade, reshaping the future of the ecosystem.

Author: HashKey Capital

Translation: Baihua Blockchain

Looking back, many cutting-edge discussions within the Ethereum developer community have profoundly influenced the daily applications we take for granted today, such as decentralized exchanges (DEXs), lending platforms, Rollups, and decentralized applications (dApps). These discussions often hint at future investment opportunities.
As we approach 2025, what signals can we capture from Ethereum's roadmap, the recent DevCon conference, and the upcoming Pectra upgrade? Let’s explore.

1. Ethereum's Roadmap: A Guide to Future Development

Ethereum's roadmap has always been an important reference for observing future development directions, with key milestones including The Merge, The Surge, The Scourge, The Verge, The Purge, and The Splurge. These phases showcase the evolving path of Ethereum:

• The Merge: Focused on the integration of the execution layer and consensus layer, completing the transition from PoW to PoS. It also includes improvements to consensus protocols, such as Single-Slot Finality and lowering the validator threshold.

• The Surge: Core discussions revolve around future scalability improvements, with underlying optimizations to better support Rollups. Among these, EIP-4844 has been launched, and upcoming key features include PeerDAS (reducing node pressure) and cross-Rollup interaction capabilities.

• The Scourge: Primarily addresses issues related to MEV, such as the centralization of builders and the phenomenon of MEV value being captured by large liquid staking tokens (LSTs).

• The Verge: Transitioning the underlying structure from Merkle trees to Verkle trees and promoting the zero-knowledgeification of the EVM (Snarkify).

• The Purge: Reducing the storage and state maintenance pressure on Ethereum nodes by deleting or archiving historical data while cleaning up some technical debt.

• The Splurge: Includes more cutting-edge improvements, such as EVM underlying optimizations, account abstraction, and the application of other cryptographic technologies (like VDF). The table below summarizes the key improvements of each phase, highlighting their main impacts and current progress.
  By outlining these milestones, it is clear that Ethereum's roadmap is not just a plan for technological evolution but also an important guide for the future development of the entire ecosystem. It provides developers with a clear direction and reveals potential opportunities for investors.
  

  2. DevCon Conference

  Another insightful source is the recent Ethereum DevCon conference, where developers and community members gathered to discuss key challenges and explore innovative solutions.
  One highlight topic was Beam Chain, a technology humorously yet aptly referred to as "Ethereum 3.0." This name reflects the community's enthusiasm for exploring new directions. Beam Chain introduces some foundational improvements, such as advancements in Snark technology, block generation, and optimization of staking mechanisms. However, due to its roadmap spanning about five years, it is more of a long-term vision rather than a short-term focus.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjuenkv1zrw

  3. The Core Position of Rollup-Related Topics at DevCon

  At DevCon, Rollup-related topics became the focus, with liquidity fragmentation and Rollup interoperability seen as key issues affecting user experience. Many keynote speeches and panel discussions centered on potential solutions to these challenges. The conference also delved into the technical maturity of Layer 2 (L2) solutions. Currently, only Optimism and Arbitrum have reached Stage 1 (permitted fraud proofs), while most other L2 projects remain at Stage 0 (centralized upgrades, no fraud proofs) and need to align with Layer 1 (L1) upgrades to make progress.
  The conference also discussed chain abstraction, pre-confirmation mechanisms, cryptographic applications, and future upgrade plans. The upcoming Pectra upgrade is expected to play a key role in addressing these issues, which will be detailed in the next section.

  4. Pectra Upgrade

  The Pectra upgrade mainly belongs to The Surge phase, as its core goal is to enhance scalability (such as increasing Blob capacity) and optimize the use of Rollups. At the same time, it also advances account abstraction and innovative features in The Splurge phase. This upgrade also partially involves storage optimization and cryptographic improvements from The Purge and The Verge.
  Therefore, the Pectra upgrade is a comprehensive technical update with multi-phase objectives, but its focus is on scalability (The Surge) and innovation (The Splurge).
  Currently, the Ethereum Pectra upgrade is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2025, introducing several significant changes that cover multiple aspects from underlying architecture to end-user experience.

  1) EIP-7702: Account Abstraction (AA)

  One of the most user-experience-focused features in the Pectra upgrade is EIP-7702. This proposal is based on the concepts of EIP-3074 and EIP-4337, allowing all external accounts (EOA) to temporarily convert to smart contract accounts. This upgrade will simplify user experience, enabling features such as single-signature multi-transaction processing and zero gas fees. However, it may also introduce certain security risks, such as signature phishing. Therefore, wallets and related products need to be upgraded accordingly to adapt to this change. Overall, EIP-7702 is expected to provide significant opportunities for account abstraction projects. For more details, please refer to our related report.

  2) EIP-7691: Increase in Blob Quantity

  The Pectra upgrade will adjust the number of Blobs per block, increasing the target value from 3 to 6 and the maximum value from 6 to 9. Blobs provide a more economical storage method for Rollups, and this improvement will lower the costs of Rollups, enhancing the competitiveness of Ethereum decentralized applications (dApps). Although this change will slightly increase the operational costs for nodes, it will significantly improve storage efficiency, thus providing greater advantages for Rollups. Additionally, this adjustment will lead to faster gas fee decreases (when Blobs are unused) and slower gas fee increases (when Blobs reach full capacity).

  3) EIP-7251: Increase in Staking Cap

  The Pectra upgrade will also raise Ethereum's staking cap from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH. This change allows staking service providers and large holders (whales) to consolidate their ETH into a single node, thereby reducing the number of validators and improving the efficiency of the staking process.
  The Pectra upgrade not only represents a significant technological breakthrough for Ethereum but also demonstrates a comprehensive enhancement in user experience, scalability, and efficiency, injecting more potential into the future development of the ecosystem.

  5. Future Opportunities

  The ongoing technological advancements and research discussions within the Ethereum ecosystem present exciting possibilities for its future development. Here are some key opportunities shaping the future.

  1) Interoperability Between Rollups

  A recurring theme in the discussions of Ethereum's roadmap and DevCon is enhancing liquidity and interoperability between Layer 2 (L2) Rollups. Addressing these issues is crucial for improving user experience and scaling Ethereum.
  Current solutions in development:

  • Layer 1-based Rollups: Currently, many L2s use centralized sequencers to order transactions and publish them to Layer 1 (L1), which limits timely interactions between L2s. A proposed solution is to use L1 as a sorting layer, ensuring atomic interactions between L2s adopting this method.
  • Shared Sequencers: Another approach is for multiple L2s to share a common set of sequencers, facilitating seamless interactions and reducing liquidity fragmentation.
  • Cross-Chain Intents: In addition to sequencers, cross-chain intents allow developers to address interoperability issues at a higher level, supporting coordinated interactions between Rollups. Progress and Key Participants: The Ethereum community is actively developing and testing solutions to address these challenges:

• Spire Labs' Based Stack: Designed for L1-based Rollups, expected to launch in the first quarter of 2025.

• Shared Sequencer Projects: Platforms like Astria, Espresso, and Polygon AggLayer are iteratively developing shared sequencer models.

• ERC Standards:

  • ERC-7683: Supported by Unichain, Arbitrum, etc., aimed at addressing cross-chain liquidity issues.
  • Optimism's ERC-7802: Introduces SuperchainERC20, providing a unified asset standard within the superchain ecosystem to facilitate liquidity transfer.

  As these solutions evolve, they may compete for dominance in 2025, reshaping Rollup interoperability and Ethereum's scalability.

  2) Account Abstraction (AA)

  The activation of EIP-7702 will impact all external account (EOA) addresses, creating significant opportunities for account abstraction (AA) projects. Combined with advancements in chain abstraction, intents, and related technologies, EIP-7702 is expected to drive the development of more complex cross-chain and multi-chain interaction capabilities.
  However, the AA track is at a critical moment, as previous standards like ERC-4337 have not performed well in the market. The upcoming Pectra upgrade in the first quarter of 2025 may be the last significant opportunity for the AA ecosystem to achieve product-market fit. Teams like Zerodev, which are early adopters of EIP-7702, are poised to take full advantage of this upgrade and may experience significant growth. Future outcomes will soon become apparent.

  3) Cryptographic Applications

  Cryptography has always been at the core of the Ethereum roadmap and DevCon discussions, with advancements paving the way for breakthrough technologies and applications.
  Technical Aspects: Frameworks like zkEVM and zkVM are continuously maturing, showcasing innovative potential through the application of technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP), multi-party computation (MPC), and fully homomorphic encryption (FHE). Cutting-edge technologies like indistinguishability obfuscation (iO), often referred to as the "crown jewel" of cryptography, were specifically mentioned in DevCon discussions and may gain more attention in the near future.
  Consumer Side: Advances in cryptography hold immense potential. For example, applications like ZK Email (represented by Aztec Noir) and zkTLS may see broader adoption, providing users with enhanced security and privacy protection. Additionally, the recent rejection of OFAC sanctions against Tornado Cash has somewhat alleviated compliance concerns regarding privacy technologies, potentially accelerating the acceptance and use of these technologies in real-world applications.

  Article link: https://www.hellobtc.com/kp/du/01/5633.html

  Source: https://medium.com/hashkey-capital-insights/opportunities-in-the-ethereum-roadmap-devcon-and-pectra-upgrades-7ae3f0d435dd

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