ETHEREUM'S “STRAWMAP” ROADMAP

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

The Ethereum Foundation's non-binding "Strawmap" draft outlines five goals through 2029: reducing finality from 16 minutes to 6-16 seconds, higher throughput, native privacy via shielded base layer transfers, post-quantum cryptography, and tighter L2 integration. Vitalik Buterin's concurrent argument that original L2 roadmap assumptions "no longer make sense" signals a dual-track strategy where the base layer strengthens alongside more specialized L2 roles for privacy and specific applications rather than outsourcing all scaling to rollups. Researcher Justin Drake framed the vision as "Ethereum becoming the internet of value, and ether becoming money for the internet" while acknowledging the Strawmap remains independent from governance and subject to revision through decentralized debate.