Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined a set of technical requirements that would enable the blockchain to maintain long-term sustainability without constant developer involvement.

Ethereum itself must pass the walkaway test.

Ethereum is meant to be a home for trustless and trust-minimized applications, whether in finance, governance or elsewhere. It must support applications that are more like tools — the hammer that once you buy it's yours — than like…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 12, 2026

According to him, the network aims to ensure the operation of applications that do not depend on their providers, who may lose interest. To meet these criteria as a base layer, the blockchain itself must pass the "walkaway test."

"This means that Ethereum must reach a state where we can 'freeze' it if we want. We don't need to stop making changes to the protocol, but we should reach a point where the blockchain's value proposition does not strictly depend on any features that are not yet available," Buterin emphasized.

He identified seven conditions necessary to achieve this goal:

  • complete quantum resistance of the blockchain, which must be pursued urgently;
  • scalable architecture — primarily through the implementation of zkEVM validation and data sampling via PeerDAS;
  • a network state structure that can comfortably handle "thousands of TPS for decades" without disrupting synchronization;
  • full account abstraction and a move away from standard ECDSA

  • a gas model resilient to DoS attacks in both standard and ZK-proof forms;
  • a mature staking economy that remains decentralized over time;
  • a mechanism for block construction that is resistant to centralization.

"Ideally, we should do significant work over the next few years so that in the future, almost all possible innovations occur through client-side optimization and are reflected in the protocol by changing parameters," Buterin noted.

In this scenario, the need for regular hard forks would diminish — upgrades would only require validator voting, such as for gas limits, he added.

Buterin's plan calls for implementing at least one of these tasks annually. A fundamental approach is needed, rather than short-term compromises, to maximize Ethereum's technological and social sustainability, he stressed.

Recall that in January, Buterin stated that the protocol is successfully overcoming the blockchain trilemma thanks to the development of zkEVM and the launch of PeerDAS. These solutions were key elements of the Fusaka hard fork, which the Ethereum team implemented in the mainnet in December.