Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, is suggesting a higher standard for what qualifies as a rollup in the Ethereum ecosystem, emphasizing the need for decentralization efforts to be prioritized by the end of the year. His remarks were made in a recent blog post on March 28, reflecting on the future of Ethereum following the Dencun upgrade, which notably reduced transaction fees for rollups on layer 2.

Buterin highlighted a significant shift in Ethereum's progress, moving from a period of rapid progress at layer 1 to an era where such progress remains significant but at a slower pace. He mentioned that scaling efforts are now more focused on incremental improvements, particularly in increasing blob capacity and enhancing rollup efficiency.

He also emphasized the need for stricter standards within the ecosystem, suggesting that projects should only be considered rollups if they have reached at least stage 1 of decentralization progress, as per his classification. Currently, only a few layer-2 projects meet these criteria, with Arbitrum being the only one fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

Looking ahead, Buterin outlined steps in the roadmap, including implementing data availability sampling to boost blob capacity and optimizing layer 2 solutions through techniques like data compression and optimistic execution. He mentioned the eventual move towards stage 2, where rollups are securely backed by code, with intervention only possible if the code is fundamentally flawed.

Buterin compared Ethereum's evolution to a plane undergoing mid-flight engine replacement in 2022 and wing replacement in 2023, indicating the ongoing upgrades related to scalability and future ones focusing on censorship resistance, decentralization, and mitigating protocol risks.

He urged developers to adopt a forward-looking approach, designing applications with scalability, privacy, account abstraction, and novel community membership proofs in mind, concluding that Ethereum has evolved into a comprehensive decentralized tech stack beyond just a financial ecosystem.