Simplifying the L1

https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/05/03/simplel1.html

One of the best things about Bitcoin is how simple it is. This simplicity has lots of benefits. Let's bring those benefits to Ethereum.

The effort to revamp Ethereum's consensus, historically called the beam chain, includes many opportunities to simplify consensus, while also increasing efficiency and security.

Now we get to the execution layer. This is one of my motivations for proposing the RISC-V (or other ZK-friendly) VM shift.

A backwards-compatibility strategy: move the old EVM from consensus-critical client code, to a RISC-V implementation. Existing contracts would continue working as-is.

We can also simplify the protocol by making sure that sub-protocols are shared as much as possible: there should ideally only be one way we do X, across the consensus, execution and other layers. Potential targets: erasure coding, serialization, trees.

Caring about simplicity is, like decentralization, a short-term cost for the sake of benefits that do not appear immediately. But in the long term, it will be worth it.

Let's make each part of the ethereum spec a place where things like this can happen:

Caring about simplicity is, like decentralization, a short-term cost for the sake of benefits that do not appear immediately. But in the long term, it will be worth it.

Let's make each part of the ethereum spec a place where things like this can happen:

https://x.com/leonardoalt/status/1917583664755671408

A smart approach to backwards compatibility. Moving the old EVM from consensus-critical code to a RISC-V implementation ensures that existing contracts continue to function while simplifying the protocol. This move can drive both scalability and efficiency!