Vitalik Buterin is shifting the Ethereum scaling conversation away from Layer 2 (L2) and back to the protocol’s core. The Russo-Canadian innovator argues that Ethereum’s biggest long-term constraints are not rollups or blob capacity, but deeper architectural bottlenecks inside the network’s state tree and virtual machine. Vitalik Buterin Proposes Deep Ethereum Overhaul Targeting State Tree and Virtual Machine Bottlenecks According to Buterin, two components — the network’s state tree and virtual machine — account for more than 80% of the proving costs. This, he says, is a critical issue as zero-knowledge (ZK) technology becomes central to Ethereum’s roadmap