ETH Scaling Challenges Addressed at ETHGlobal Conference
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin predicts significant upgrades are underway to address long-standing network congestion issues. Speaking at ETHGlobal Prague 2025, Buterin advocated for scaling the blockchain by an estimated tenfold over the next year.
Ethereum’s first layer network has struggled to meet demand, resulting in high costs and long waiting times during peak usage, hindering its pace relative to competitors like Solana.
Scaling Predictions & Priorities
“There is a lot of room to scale safely [by] about 10x,” Buterin told the audience. He specifically cautioned against “take-a-breather” moves and skepticism towards extreme scaling targets. “We should scale L1 by about tenfold over the next year and a bit,” he emphasized an ambitious 10x target.
Moving Forward vs. Long-Term Value
The crypto mogul addressed existing concerns within the ecosystem that reliance on Layer-2 solutions could potentially devalue the base Layer-1 network in the long term. While acknowledging some comrades aim to “literally commit to 1,000x,” Buterin downplayed this path for safety, asserting that over-ambition could threaten the project’s centralization.
“My view is that generally … I don’t believe in that,” Buterin stated regarding a 1,000x scale-up within a similar timeframe. “A year would be great.”
