Off the back of the Ethereum Foundation’s recent announcements about scaling the L1, Vitalik published a post on Friday titled “Simplifying the L1,” laying out how Ethereum can streamline and harden its base layer for the long haul.

To Vitalik, scalability isn’t enough — Ethereum must also stay understandable, maintainable, and secure if it’s to become “the platform that stores civilization's assets and records.” He argues it’s time to strip away bloat, rethink core systems, and replace the EVM with something simpler. The goal: an Ethereum nearly as simple as Bitcoin within five years.