Vitalik Buterin Advocates EIP-8288 to Shift Ethereum Cryptography to STARK Proofs

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has called for 'EIP-8288 maximalism' to process complex cryptography client-side via recursive STARK proofs instead of adding new base-layer precompiles. Co-authored with Thomas Coratger, the draft proposal introduces in-mempool aggregation where Layer 1 validators only verify aggregate proofs of approximately 100 to 300 kilobytes plus 96 bytes per statement. This framework is projected to slash multi-million-gas private transactions to low tens of thousands of gas and support post-quantum cryptography ahead of the Ethereum Foundation's end-2029 quantum-resistance target. If adopted, EIP-8288 will require a coordinated network consensus hard fork.