# Ethereum Protocol Technology Upgrade Outlook: The Surge

*Since October this year, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has published a series of articles discussing the future possibilities of the Ethereum protocol. These articles cover six parts of Ethereum's development roadmap: The Merge, The Surge, The Scourge, The Verge, The Purge, and The Splurge.*

By [nikole](https://paragraph.com/@nikole) · 2024-12-18

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**Ethereum's Core Vision**

At its core, Ethereum aims to become the foundational layer for the decentralized internet. Ethereum supports complex decentralized applications (DApps) through self-executing smart contract code. This flexibility makes it the blockchain of choice for developers building decentralized applications such as DeFi and NFTs.

However, Ethereum faces limitations in scalability. Ethereum's L1 can process only around 15 to 30 transactions per second, far below traditional payment networks like Visa. This leads to high gas fees during network congestion and limits Ethereum's ability to serve as global-scale infrastructure. This is the problem that **The Surge** seeks to address.

**Core Goals of The Surge**

The primary goals of **The Surge** are to significantly improve Ethereum's scalability while maintaining the decentralization and robustness of the network. The specific goals include:

*   Achieving **100,000+ TPS** across Ethereum L1 and L2.
    
*   Maintaining the decentralization and robustness of L1.
    
*   Ensuring that some L2 solutions fully inherit Ethereum's core properties (trustless, open, and censorship-resistant).
    
*   Maximizing the interoperability between L2s: Ethereum should function as an ecosystem, not dozens of separate blockchains.
    

**A Rollup-Centric Future**

**The Surge** focuses on dramatically improving scalability primarily through Layer 2 (L2) solutions, with **rollups** being a key component of this strategy. The rollup-centric roadmap proposes a simple division of labor: Ethereum L1 focuses on being a strong, decentralized base layer, while L2s are responsible for helping scale the ecosystem.

Rollups bundle transactions off-chain and submit them back to Ethereum’s mainnet, significantly improving throughput while maintaining security and decentralization. In Vitalik’s words, rollups can scale Ethereum to **100,000 TPS** or more. This will be a transformative expansion, enabling Ethereum to support global-scale applications without compromising its decentralized spirit.

Vitalik emphasizes that rollups are not just a temporary solution but a long-term scalability solution. Ethereum 2.0 transitioned from PoW to PoS through **The Merge** to reduce energy consumption, and rollups are seen as the next significant milestone for Ethereum's long-term scalability.

This year, the rollup-centric roadmap made important strides: With the release of **EIP-4844** blobs, Ethereum L1's data bandwidth was significantly increased, and several Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) rollups have entered their first stage. Each L2 exists as a shard with its own internal rules and logic, and the diversity and variety of shard implementations have now become a reality.

**Summary**

**The Surge** marks a significant step toward Ethereum’s future scalability. By utilizing Layer 2 solutions, especially **rollups**, Ethereum will be able to scale up to handle global applications while preserving its core values of decentralization and security. With continued optimization, Ethereum will solidify its role as the foundational infrastructure for the decentralized internet.

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*Originally published on [nikole](https://paragraph.com/@nikole/ethereum-protocol-technology-upgrade-outlook-the-surge)*