Oceans of Wisdom

last 6 months I have had my (mini) elon musk moment of getting things done in the highly physical world at timeframes that literally everyone considered impossible

all of my life accomplishments are some form of: Step 1: :well, how hard can it be to do X Step 2: wait, wtf, actually, it is really hard Step 3: well, fuck, it will be embarrassing if I fuck this up, so now I have to figure it out

all day, year, decade long this is me

it is my mental illness

so 99^ of the time, 99% of my money is getting shoved into doing things

i am 99% buildooooor, not investooooor

no, not on the list. i must admit I am not paris hilton

 this except I was both bart and homer

well fakenews myself

thing i said was done a few weeks ago

2 hours ago

finally came to the finish line (well the end of the beginning but very important fniish line)

my big big big thing

yeah missed it

@[simo] let's put on our todo list and come to a resolution here

is still working through

ethereum (as an already mature chain)

look at the complexity of tradeoffs and concepts

but answering @[david] comment in another wave here

sorry for the spam

[](https://www.numerama.com/tech/1053512-vitalik-buterin-lidealiste-geek-de-la-crypto.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com) Here’s a concise readout of Vitalik Buterin’s *recent* writing on where Ethereum and privacy are headed—and the concrete levers he wants the ecosystem to pull to get there. --- ## The long‑term goals (from his 2024–2025 posts) 1. **Keep Ethereum a credibly‑neutral, censorship‑resistant base layer while scaling through L2s.** Vitalik reiterates that the *core* aim is a global, permissionless chain that remains decentralized even as throughput grows—i.e., L1 as the security/settlement anchor and L2s for most execution. “Blobs” (EIP‑4844) made rollup data cheap; next comes PeerDAS/full danksharding to expand data availability for L2s. ([vitalik.eth.limo][1]) 2. **Make privacy a first‑class property of everyday use.** He argues privacy is essential to decentralization—“whoever has the information has the power”—and sets out a practical, near‑term L1 privacy roadmap that improves user privacy with minimal consensus changes. ([vitalik.eth.limo][2]) 3. **Strengthen permissionlessness & decentralization at the protocol level.** Priorities include cheaper, lighter nodes (Verkle trees, history pruning), reducing reliance on centralized builders/relays, and making it easy for ordinary users to run and *participate* in the network. ([vitalik.eth.limo][3]) 4. **Faster, safer finality and broader participation in staking.** He promotes single‑slot finality (SSF) to bring finality down to ~one slot and “staking democratization” to lower barriers for solo stakers. ([vitalik.eth.limo][4]) 5. **Better UX & safety via account‑abstraction‑style wallets.** Wallet security is one of his “three transitions,” and newer proposals like EIP‑7702 aim to give EOAs smart‑account superpowers without a disruptive fork to the account model. ([vitalik.eth.limo][5]) 6. **Fix the MEV/censorship problem to preserve neutrality.** He wants approaches that *minimize* extractable value and *quarantine* its effects (PBS/ePBS), plus protocol tools that guarantee timely inclusion of transactions (e.g., inclusion lists/FOCIL). ([vitalik.eth.limo][3]) --- ## How he plans to achieve it (the concrete levers) ### A) Scale without sacrificing neutrality * **Data for rollups:** After blobs (EIP‑4844), push **PeerDAS** and eventually full danksharding so L2s can scale cheaply while inheriting L1 security. Vitalik frames blobs as the moment scaling shifted from “0→1” to “1→N.” ([vitalik.eth.limo][6]) * **Fee model that reflects real resources:** Move toward **multidimensional gas** so different resources (compute, storage, blob space) are priced separately—continuing what Dencun started. This supports stateless clients and safer limits as the protocol evolves. ([vitalik.eth.limo][7]) ### B) Keep running a node—and participating—easy * **Verkle trees, statelessness & history pruning:** Ship Verkle trees (“the Verge”) and prune old history (EIP‑4444) so consumer‑grade hardware can verify and participate; this is central in his “near & mid‑term” decentralization post. ([vitalik.eth.limo][3]) ### C) Faster finality and more inclusive staking * **Single‑slot finality (SSF):** Research paths to finalize in a single slot to improve UX and support cross‑L2 workflows. In the “Possible futures” series, Vitalik places SSF and lowering solo‑staker barriers as primary Merge‑era follow‑ups. ([vitalik.eth.limo][4]) ### D) Tame MEV and enforce inclusion * **PBS → ePBS, plus inclusion lists:** Formalize **proposer‑builder separation** in‑protocol and add mechanisms that *force* inclusion of valid transactions. The **FOCIL** design (committee‑based inclusion lists) is a direction he references to harden censorship resistance while keeping builders in check. ([vitalik.eth.limo][3]) * **MEV minimization & quarantining:** Encourage encrypted mempools/auction designs and app‑level patterns that reduce exploitable order flow in the first place. (He lays this out in the May‑2024 decentralization post.) ([vitalik.eth.limo][3]) ### E) Wallets & account abstraction (UX and safety) * **From EOAs to smart accounts:** One of his “three transitions” is moving users to smart‑contract wallets. **EIP‑7702** (an alternative to 3074) brings batching, sponsored fees, and temporary smart‑account behavior to EOAs, easing migration without breaking today’s UX. ([vitalik.eth.limo][5]) ### F) A pragmatic privacy program (what to ship first) Vitalik’s April‑2025 thread proposes a nine‑point “maximally simple L1 privacy roadmap” that can roll out largely at the wallet/app layer: * **Default, wallet‑level privacy options:** Integrate **shielded balances** and privacy tools (Railgun, Privacy Pools) *directly in mainstream wallets* so users don’t need a “privacy‑only wallet.” ([Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians][8]) * **Reduce linkability across apps:** Adopt **“one address per application”** and make **send‑to‑self** private by default. (Stealth addresses are a building block for private receiving.) ([Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians][8]) * **Make private txs easy to broadcast & hard to censor:** Ship **FOCIL** and **EIP‑7701** so privacy protocols no longer rely on centralized relayers and enjoy stronger inclusion guarantees. ([Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians][8]) * **Hide metadata at the RPC/network layers:** Short‑term: TEE‑based RPC privacy; long‑term: **PIR** and mixnets; connect to multiple RPCs and add light‑client checks to reduce data leakage. ([Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians][8]) * **Cut costs:** Use **proof aggregation** so many private transfers share one on‑chain proof. (Cheaper proofs → privacy becomes a default choice, not a luxury.) ([Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians][8]) ### G) “Compliant privacy” as a bridge to mainstream use * **Privacy Pools** research: co‑authored work shows how users can prove funds *don’t* come from bad sets **without revealing their full history**, creating a separating equilibrium between honest and dishonest users. This is his answer to the “privacy vs. regulation” deadlock. ([SSRN][9]) --- ## What this adds up to * **Eth as a secure “root of trust,”** with most scale on L2s, cheaper data, and lighter nodes so anyone can verify. ([vitalik.eth.limo][3]) * **Privacy that’s usable by default,** mostly delivered through wallets and app patterns now, with protocol guardrails (FOCIL, AA upgrades) to prevent censorship and de‑anonymization via centralized chokepoints. ([Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians][8]) * **A cleaner, more neutral block‑production pipeline** (PBS/ePBS + inclusion lists) and **faster finality** to improve UX and cross‑rollup operations. ([vitalik.eth.limo][3]) If you want the primary sources, start with these three posts: * **“Scaling Ethereum L1 and L2s in 2025 and beyond.”** Vision for a censorship‑resistant base layer and L2‑centric scale. ([vitalik.eth.limo][1]) * **“The near & mid‑term future of improving the network’s permissionlessness and decentralization.”** Concrete steps on PeerDAS, Verkle, history, PBS/MEV. ([vitalik.eth.limo][3]) * **“A maximally simple L1 privacy roadmap.”** Nine practical steps to make privacy real for everyday users. ([Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians][8]) *Other useful context:* his “multidimensional gas” analysis (post‑Dencun), SSF write‑ups in the “Possible futures” series, the classic “Three transitions,” and earlier essays on stealth addresses and Privacy Pools. ([vitalik.eth.limo][7]) --- If you’re building and want quick guidance, tell me your stack (L1/L2, wallet model, target users), and I’ll translate the above into an actionable checklist (e.g., AA choices, RPC privacy setup, proof aggregation options) aligned with Vitalik’s direction. [1]: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/01/23/l1l2future.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Scaling Ethereum L1 and L2s in 2025 and beyond" [2]: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/04/14/privacy.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Why I support privacy" [3]: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2024/05/17/decentralization.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com "The near and mid-term future of improving the Ethereum ..." [4]: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2024/10/14/futures1.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Possible futures of the Ethereum protocol, part 1: The Merge" [5]: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/06/09/three_transitions.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com "The Three Transitions" [6]: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2024/03/28/blobs.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Ethereum has blobs. Where do we go from here?" [7]: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2024/05/09/multidim.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Multidimensional gas pricing" [8]: https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/a-maximally-simple-l1-privacy-roadmap/23459 "A maximally simple L1 privacy roadmap - Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians" [9]: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4563364&utm_source=chatgpt.com "Blockchain Privacy and Regulatory Compliance: Towards ..."

but harder

not impossible

make it harder

and some things like xTDH take us backwards in this regard

the harder part is shipping the a truly decentralized blockchain

this is not the issue

i ahve the white paper in my head

then the white paper network launch timing etc has to do with does one write the white paper before you are actually decentralized or not

it needs me being more hands on on dev side for a few weeks and we will do it

i want to do it

this is straightforward good stuff

i want to in all case get out xtdh and stream

it is background

network state thread is not competitive with white paper

also very hard

and as such very valuable

truly decentralized systems are very rare

we are not there yet

everything needs to be able to happen without me

for this to be a good system

but need to expand the scope of things that happen without me

so I will push again for a couple of months

still too much waiting around for me :)

still needs work

"marketing", "pushing forward", etc

meme card selection is pretty good without me now

we have made progress

but it should be resilient to that

ideally I will not be hit by a bus