The Ethereum Foundation has just released Strawmap—a serious technical roadmap for the next four years. This is not just a routine update; it signals a shift in how Ethereum evolves. If you want to understand the meaning of the Merge and Ethereum’s evolution, this document shows how the foundation is moving from the old nomenclature era (Merge, Surge, Scourge) toward a focus on concrete technical metrics.

So what exactly is being planned here? The Ethereum Foundation is proposing a much more structured upgrade schedule—one network fork every six months until 2029. That means around seven major forks during this period. This represents a significant change from the previous approach, which was more flexible. By keeping a consistent cadence, they hope the ecosystem can plan better, and developers can have long-term certainty about the protocol’s direction.

Now for the exciting part—performance. The target “Gigagas” is a big leap: they want to reach about 10,000 transactions per second on the Layer 1 mainnet by integrating zkEVM (Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine) directly into the protocol. This isn’t hype; by leveraging real-time zero-knowledge proofs, the network can verify complex computations much faster. The result? Drastically increased L1 gas capacity without sacrificing decentralization or requiring specialized hardware.

But the Ethereum Foundation isn’t only focused on the mainnet. The “Teragas” target aims at a broader Layer 2 ecosystem—they’re talking about 10 million TPS across various L2 platforms using Data Availability Sampling (DAS). For end users, this means nearly zero transaction costs and decentralized application speeds comparable to traditional web services.

On the security side, they are taking it seriously. Strawmap identifies the transition to post-quantum cryptography as a top-tier priority. As computing power grows, threats to blockchain encryption also grow. By introducing hash-based schemes, Ethereum aims to remain secure even if, someday, quantum computers become powerful enough to break today’s encryption standards.

There’s more—native privacy at Layer 1. Instead of relying on third-party mixers or complex tools at the application layer, Strawmap proposes integrating privacy features directly into the protocol. This will enable “protected ETH transfers,” giving users the option for more private transactions at the base layer.

This journey is organized into three main workstreams: increasing throughput (Scale), reducing finality time (Improve UX), and strengthening L1 security (Harden L1). Early forks such as Glamsterdam and Hegotá are expected to lay the groundwork for more ambitious goals in the years ahead.

The Ethereum Foundation describes Strawmap as a “living document”—not a rigid prediction, but an open coordination tool for community feedback and research breakthroughs. It reflects a collective technical vision while leaving room for adaptation. With a clear path toward high-speed L1 and L2 performance, Ethereum appears serious about maintaining its position as the leading smart contract platform and moving toward a truly scalable and private “world computer.”