Vitalik Maps Ethereum’s Fast L1 Slot Reduction Plan

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted a detailed thread and the Ethereum Foundation published a ‘Strawmap’ laying out a fast L1 goal that reduces slot time from 12 seconds toward 2 seconds via an incremental roadmap ^[1][3][4].

The proposal uses a sqrt(2) step-down approach for slot times and targets network-level improvements—including erasure coding upgrades to the p2p layer—to shorten block propagation and enable faster finality, with changes delivered through coordinated protocol upgrades and forks ^[4][1][3].

The Strawmap also folds in a quantum-resistance plan: the Ethereum Foundation has formed a post-quantum research team, and Buterin flagged validator signatures, data availability, wallet signatures and zero-knowledge proofs as priority risk areas, proposing measures such as replacing BLS validator signatures with hash-based schemes and enabling wallet migration via EIP-8141 while evaluating quantum-safe KZG alternatives ^[5][2][3].

The Strawmap projects multiple coordinated forks through 2029 to incrementally deliver faster L1 slots, higher throughput, native privacy and post-quantum cryptography, with implementation staged over several protocol upgrades ^[3][1].