Since its inception, cryptocurrencies operating on blockchain technology have had one fundamental problem, known as the blockchain trilemma. Essentially, this trilemma states that to increase blockchain scalability, security or decentralization must be sacrificed.
Various blockchain scalability solutions have been developed to address this trilemma. Now, Ethereum has successfully solved this fundamental trilemma through a combination of Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and PeerDAS technology, according to an announcement by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
In an X post on 04/01/2026, Buterin explained that large peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, like BitTorrent and Bitcoin, face significant limitations.
BitTorrent offers high bandwidth and decentralization, but lacks a consensus mechanism. Meanwhile, Bitcoin achieves full decentralization and a consensus mechanism, but its low bandwidth results in low throughput.
With a new architecture, Ethereum offers a solution that fulfills all three key factors: consensus, decentralization, and high throughput.
ZKEVM, which has been in development since 2020, is now in the alpha stage (production-quality performance). Transaction costs have been successfully cut nearly 45-fold, and transaction validation time has been reduced from 16 minutes to just 16 seconds.
According to Vitalik, a small portion of the Ethereum network will begin using ZKEVM in 2026.
Meanwhile, PeerDAS technology is already operating on the main network. This technology allows nodes to verify data availability by sampling small parts instead of entire blocks. This accelerates data verification and increases throughput without compromising decentralization.
Buterin also outlined plans to implement ZKEVM and PeerDAS over the next 4 years.
- 2026: Non-ZKEVM-independent gas limits are increased. Opportunities to run ZKEVM nodes begin to emerge.
- 2026-2028: Changes to gas pricing and status structures, as well as migration of execution payloads to various blobs to support high throughput.
- 2027-2030: ZKEVM validation becomes the primary blockchain verification method.
Ethereum’s latest breakthrough is the culmination of a 10-year-long journey. Buterin first committed to data availability sampling in 2015, while ZKEVM began development in 2020.
Ethereum's rapid development has led many investors to compare it to the first and largest cryptocurrency today, Bitcoin.
Which is better, Ethereum or Bitcoin? Learn the differences between the two and find out which one is right for you in the article Ethereum vs Bitcoin: Which is the Better Investment?
