Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, has recently shared his thoughts on the challenges facing the blockchain platform in his fifth article of the “Possible Futures of the Ethereum Protocol” series. In this article titled “The Purge,” Buterin addresses the issues of bloat and complexity that Ethereum and other blockchains encounter over time.
Buterin acknowledges that the storage of historical data for every transaction and the removal of outdated protocol features contribute to the increasing complexity of Ethereum. To ensure a sustainable future for the platform, Buterin suggests finding a balance between avoiding complexity and maintaining the immutability of the blockchain, allowing users to retrieve their funds even after prolonged periods of inactivity.
Currently, a fully synced Ethereum node consumes approximately 1.1 terabytes of data storage, primarily consisting of archive data. In light of this, Buterin proposes radical solutions such as allowing nodes to store only a portion of the history. By implementing techniques similar to those used in torrent networks, the Ethereum ecosystem can increase its efficiency and reduce storage requirements.
To tackle the storage issues faced by Ethereum, Buterin introduces the concept of “state expiry.” This involves designing state objects that gradually decay over time, thereby reducing the storage demand on Ethereum nodes. However, implementing this solution may come at the expense of user friendliness and developer flexibility.
Some of the proposed measures to address these challenges include shrinking or eliminating non-essential features of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and upgrading the EVM Object Format (EOF) to ensure backward compatibility.
In conclusion, Buterin emphasizes that the future of Ethereum relies heavily on simplifying processes and effectively handling historical data. By embracing new storage models and implementing necessary protocol changes, the platform can remain robust for decentralized applications (dApps).
