Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum's next rebuild will rival the Merge, and take three to four years

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined “Lean Ethereum,” a multi-year redesign that could reshape the network over the next three to four years and rival the scale of the Merge. The roadmap aims to replace most major protocol components, including transaction validation, cryptography, finality, and data storage, while preserving compatibility with existing apps. The most market-relevant takeaway is a proposed cheaper storage tier that could cut fees for some tokens and DeFi/NFT applications by more than 10x, potentially improving Ethereum’s usability and competitiveness. Buterin also said quantum safety and privacy have moved to the top of the agenda, and that the upcoming Hegota upgrade may be Ethereum’s last pre-Lean fork. While the article is fundamentally long-term and not an immediate catalyst, it signals continued development progress for ETH and supports the network’s scaling narrative; ETH was trading near $1,780, down about 1% on the day.