Ethereum creator reveals Ethereum 2.0 roadmap as price soars

The creator of Etherum, Vitalik Buterin, recently revealed his plans for Ethereum 2.0.

During the last annual Beyond Block Taipei 2017 conference that was hosted by Taiwan, the Ethereum creator, Vitalik Buterin, revealed his future plans for the cryptocurrency. According to Buterin, Ethereum 2.0 will focus on attaining a scalability level that could rival that of VISA within the next five years.

Buterin previously discussed his future plans for Ethereum during the cryptocurrency’s annual Devcon3 conference, hosted in Mexico earlier this year. Buterin has finally made more details available regarding this project.

In his conference address, Buterin once again laid emphasis on the many challenges faced by Ehtereum, including user privacy, scalability, and reliability of both smart contract and consensus.

According to Buterin, he is already in the process of developing viable solutions to address issues of privacy. as well as smart contract and consensus reliability. In order to enhance Ethereum users’ transaction privacy, Buterin states that the Ethereum team will employ zk-SNARKs technology in their Byzantium fork. In terms of consensus reliability, the team is currently working on the Casper project, which will eventually replace the current proof-of-work system with proof-of-stake. In addition, Buterin stated that the current changing consensus system will become crucial for all future Ethereum developments. When it comes to smart contract reliability, the team will utilize Viper technology as well as a formal verification system.

Despite these solutions, the most pressing issue remains that of scalability. Buterin confirmed that the biggest obstacle when it comes to scalability on the Ethereum network is a combination of scalability, decentralization, as well as security. While it is possible to create a blockchain-based network that only utilizes two of the three components, it will not fully adhere to the cryptocurrency ideal. However, combining all three often proves to be a technical nightmare for developers.

Buterin, however, envisions a future where the Ethereum network is capable of processing thousands of transactions every second, without having to rely on master nodes. To accomplish this, Buterin suggested that he will use a technique known as sharding. This will enable the developer to create several other chains, each with their own little ecosystem, while the main Ethereum network remains the main chain.

Buterin generally describes sharding as creating hundreds of different universes, each having their own space. Once a user holds an account in one specific universe, or shard, they can hold a contract in another universe, and conduct transactions in a separate universe. While the shards can still communicate information with one another, their events do not affect other shards.

Buterin estimates that the suggested new network upgrades can be completed within the next three to five years. While this may seem over-ambitious, several of the suggested upgrades are already being put in place and developed, which makes this timeline seem more plausible.

This reveal follows in the wake of Ethereum enjoying a record-breaking week. Earlier this week, Ethereum peaked at $490 and considering the growth trajectory, as well as Buterin’s latest, reveal the cryptocurrency is likely to surpass the $500 mark before long.