Ethereum needs to pass the "Exitability Test," Vitalik outlines seven key objectives for the long-term resilience of the protocol

【Blockchain Rhythm】Ethereum founder Vitalik recently shared in-depth thoughts on the long-term sustainability of the Ethereum network. He introduced an important concept—the “Exitability Test”—which means that even without a continuous core development team or external maintenance, the Ethereum network should still be able to operate securely, sustainably, and in a decentralized manner over the long term.

The core idea behind this is that Ethereum’s value proposition is to serve as the infrastructure for trustless and minimally trusted applications. Whether in finance, governance, or other fields, this means that applications deployed on Ethereum should function more like “tools” rather than “services”—once deployed, they should be usable long-term without failing due to developers ceasing maintenance, attacks, or shifting to commercial interests. To achieve this, the underlying Ethereum protocol itself cannot always rely on constant upgrades to maintain normal operation.

Vitalik emphasized a critical development stage: Ethereum should reach a position where—even if the protocol is frozen (no further upgrades)—its core value commitments still hold. This does not mean stopping all upgrades but ensuring that future upgrades are “icing on the cake” optimizations rather than “patches necessary for survival.”

To reach this goal, Vitalik outlined seven key engineering projects that Ethereum needs to systematically complete:

First is Post-Quantum Cryptography, aiming to achieve century-level cryptographic security as early as possible. Next is Sustainable Scalability Architecture, implementing long-term expansion through technologies like ZK-EVM verification and PeerDAS data sampling, while limiting future upgrades to parameter adjustments. Third is Long-Term Operable State Architecture, ensuring Ethereum can sustain high TPS operation over decades through partial statelessness and state expiration mechanisms.

The fourth is Universal Account Model (full account abstraction), enabling Ethereum to break free from the fixed reliance on ECDSA at the protocol layer. Fifth is Secure and Efficient Gas Pricing System, which must resist DoS attacks while balancing execution costs and ZK proof costs. Sixth is Sustainable PoS Economic Model, supporting ETH as a trustless staking asset while maintaining long-term network decentralization. Lastly is Decentralized Block Construction Mechanism, with strong censorship resistance.

Vitalik stated that ideally, these “hard engineering” tasks should be systematically completed within the next few years, allowing most innovations to occur at the client optimization level, reflected through parameter changes in the protocol. He emphasized avoiding compromises—“doing the right thing once and for all”—to maximize Ethereum’s long-term resilience both technically and socially.