Buterin says Hegotá may be Ethereum's last normal fork

Key points

• Buterin said Hegotá, planned for 2027, is likely Ethereum's last "normal" fork
• He said PeerDAS began Ethereum's shift from a blockchain to something more powerful
• He described the goal as a "cryptographic world computer" with offchain computation
• Researcher Barnabé Monnot said important records should stay onchain for direct user access
• Lawyer Gabriel Shapiro questioned demand for proof-based systems over trust-based models

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has said the network's Hegotá upgrade could be its last "normal" fork, according to a post reported by Cointelegraph. He wrote on Sunday that Hegotá, planned for 2027, is likely to be the final upgrade whose features and technology would still be recognisable to someone who knew Ethereum in 2015. After that, he expects development to turn to technologies including recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, optimised consensus and quantum-safe cryptography.

Buterin pointed to PeerDAS as the starting point of a wider change. That mechanism lets nodes check data availability by sampling portions of data instead of downloading all of it. He said it marked the beginning of Ethereum's transition "from being just a blockchain to being something much more powerful", describing the goal as a cryptographic world computer. In that model, nodes would no longer simply download and re-execute transactions.

Instead, Buterin sketched an architecture that combines blockchains with cryptographic verification, privacy and decentralised offchain components. More computation would move offchain, while the base layer would verify results, settle transactions and preserve access to shared onchain state. That could change how Ethereum applications are built, since developers would rely on the base chain to confirm work done elsewhere rather than run everything themselves.

Hegotá and what follows

His post prompted debate about how much computation and state should move offchain and what Ethereum should keep handling directly. Ethereum researcher Barnabé Monnot said moving computation offchain while committing to and proving the results onchain could greatly reduce the work the network must do and allow lighter nodes. He argued, however, that a world computer should still hold important records its applications depend on directly onchain, so users can see what is happening and interact with applications without external servers or intermediaries.

A pseudonymous commentator, Cryptographic, said the architecture could widen what decentralised finance applications can do. More complex computation could take place outside smart contracts while Ethereum verifies that the resulting transactions comply with protocol rules. Cryptographic cited DeFi lending as an example, where collateral analysis, liquidation routing or matching borrowers and lenders could happen offchain before Ethereum verifies and settles the outcome.

Not everyone was convinced. Crypto lawyer Gabriel Shapiro questioned how much demand exists for proof-based systems compared with traditional trust-based models. He said many existing financial services rely on reputation, regulation and legal enforcement rather than continuous cryptographic verification. The exchange leaves open how far Ethereum's role shifts from executing transactions to verifying them.

A cryptographic world computer

The discussion follows Buterin's earlier outline of priorities for a "Lean Ethereum" strawmap, which Cointelegraph has also covered. Hegotá's expected 2027 timing means the debate over offchain computation, onchain records and cryptographic proof will shape Ethereum's roadmap for years before any such fork arrives.

Read the full story on Cointelegraph →