Vitalik Buterin says Hegotá could be Ethereum’s last “normal” fork before the network stops resembling what it looked like in 2015. In a Sunday post, Buterin framed the upcoming upgrade as the final patch whose features and technology would still be recognizable to someone familiar with Ethereum in 2015.
The person who helped start the project called Hegotá, set for 2027, the close of the “normal” upgrade series. From then on, work moves to technologies such as:
- Recursive STARKs
- Automated formal verification
- Optimized consensus
- Protection against quantum attacks
That is a notable statement about where the network is headed next.
Buterin also pointed to PeerDAS as the start of Ethereum’s transition “from being just a blockchain to being something much more powerful.” He described the shift as Ethereum becoming a “cryptographic world computer,” moving beyond a model in which nodes simply download and re-execute transactions toward an architecture combining blockchains with cryptographic verification, privacy and decentralized offchain components.
Hegotá and the Last Fork
Buterin calls Hegotá the final “normal” fork. When he says “last,” he means an upgrade whose features and technology would still be recognizable to someone familiar with Ethereum in 2015, by “normal,”.
What follows is a difference that matters, since the upgrades ahead are expected to depart from the established course. The four improvements — recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, optimized consensus, and quantum-safe cryptography — are not minor additions to the existing code. Instead, they mark a fundamental change in how the network functions.
Buterin said the upgrade will probably mark the last time anyone familiar with Ethereum in 2015 can recognize the features and technology at work. That framing suggests the network is about to enter a phase where its internal logic changes shape in ways that would look strange to earlier observers.
PeerDAS and the Shift From Blockchain to World Computer
The start of Ethereum’s shift toward a new architecture is marked by PeerDAS, which Buterin cites as the signal for it. Through sampling, nodes can confirm data availability without having to download every piece of it.
Buterin described the transition as Ethereum’s evolution into a “cryptographic world computer.” The move changes how nodes operate. Instead of downloading and re-executing every transaction, the architecture combines blockchains with cryptographic verification, privacy and decentralized offchain components.
This transition might alter how Ethereum applications are constructed. The move places more processing offchain, with the base layer left to verify outcomes, settle transactions and keep open access to shared onchain state. That division is the heart of Buterin’s vision for the network.
What a World Computer Would Handle
The debate Buterin’s post triggered centered on how much processing and data should eventually be moved offchain, and what the network should keep handling directly as Ethereum grows.
What decentralized finance (DeFi) applications can achieve stands to grow through architecture that supports it. Computation of greater complexity could take place beyond smart contracts, with Ethereum serving to verify that the resulting transactions hold true to protocol rules.
Cryptographic pointed to DeFi lending as one instance where off-chain activity can precede on-chain settlement. Collateral analysis, liquidation routing, or pairing borrowers with lenders could all take place outside the chain before Ethereum steps in to verify and settle the result.
Barnabé Monnot on Keeping Records Onchain
Barnabé Monnot, an Ethereum researcher, examined the trade-off involved. He suggested that moving computation away from the chain while keeping commitments to and proofs of the results on it would cut down considerably on what the network has to do and allow for lighter nodes.
Monnot argued that a “world computer” should still keep important records that its applications depend on directly onchain. He said doing so would let users see what is happening and interact with applications directly, without relying on external servers or intermediaries.
The approach sits between two extremes: full decentralization and real-world ease of use. It keeps some information onchain for open viewing and hands-on engagement, while moving other processing to a separate layer.
Gabriel Shapiro on Proof-Based Systems
Gabriel Shapiro, a crypto lawyer, raised doubts about how much demand there is for proof-based systems against traditional trust-based models. He noted that many existing financial services depend on reputation, regulation and legal enforcement instead of constant cryptographic verification.
He argues that certain use cases don’t require the constant burden of cryptographic proof. In many traditional financial services, reputation, regulation, and legal enforcement already handle the trust issue.
What This Means for Ethereum’s Future
Buterin’s described change is significant. It alters Ethereum so that rather than having every node process each transaction, the base layer instead confirms outcomes while computation takes place somewhere else. The result is a distinct type of network altogether.
Developers should pay close attention to the upgrade path ahead. The current framing treats Hegotá as the final “normal” fork, and that perspective ends at today’s Ethereum to the cryptographic world computer is uncharted territory, and Buterin’. Beyond that point, the network no longer resembles what it was in 2015. The changes that come next are not small refinements. They represent a shift into an entirely new design language.
Questions without easy answers surround the world computer. How much processing power should remain tied to the blockchain itself? Which records demand public visibility? What gets demonstrated and what remains unproven?
This design lets DeFi tools run more complicated processing away from smart contracts, with Ethereum checking afterward that the final transactions follow the protocol’s rules. The move marks a practical instance of the change in progress.
There has been no final decision made. The move is merely an indication of where things are heading, and that direction could still change. Buterin’s writing serves as a signpost rather than a set plan for what comes next. For the moment, the message is straightforward: the next big update to the system may be the last one that resembles what came before it. From then on, Ethereum will take on a different form.
Source material: “Vitalik Buterin says Hegotá could be Ethereum’s last ‘normal’ fork,” Cointelegraph.
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