Vitalik Buterin proposed a multi-level state design to achieve 1000x Ethereum scaling

TLDR:

The state of Ethereum grows by 100 GB every year; 20x scaling creates 8 TB cases in four years for builders.
Strong statelessness and stateless solutions face backward compatibility issues with existing applications.
New temporary storage is launched every month when UTXO systems enable zero-timeout for cost savings.
Developers can continue to use persistent storage initially, then migrate to cheaper tiers over time.

It has Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum. It was announced A comprehensive proposal for addressing state scaling challenges on the Internet.

The plan introduces new forms of state storage alongside existing mechanisms to achieve 1000x scaling. In the year

The test of asymmetric measurement creates the need for an alternative approach

In his post on X, Buterin says that Ethereum faces different scaling realities in three key resources. We need 1000x scaling on Ethereum L1. We know roughly how to do this for performance and data. But elasticity is fundamentally difficult,” he said.

Execution can achieve 1000x gain through ZK-EVMs, while the data scale reaches the same level with PeerDAS technology. However, the state scale lacks such solutions.

The current scenario grows by 100 GB annually, and a 20x increase creates 2 TB of annual growth. After four years, this brings the total amount of territory to 8 TB which the builders must maintain.

The proposal explains that database efficiency and synchronization pose major obstacles. Modern client databases struggle with multi-terabyte states because records require logarithmic tree updates.

Buterin emphasized that the state is fundamentally different from computers and information. Regardless of the gas limits, builders need complete conditions to build any block.

This fact requires conservative scaling approaches and precludes many sharding techniques that work for other resources. Since unlicensed block building requires reasonable setup costs, the network cannot rely solely on professional builders.

Strong statelessness and obsolete methods face compatibility problems.

The post analyzes why previously proposed solutions meet requirements. Strong statelessness requires users to specify access accounts and storage locations when submitting Merkle credentials.

This approach creates three main problems: dependence on off-chain infrastructure, backward compatibility with dynamic storage access patterns, and bandwidth costs that reach 4Kb with a simple ERC20 transfer.

State-of-the-art designs face fundamental obstacles. Creating new accounts requires verifying that there is nothing in Ethereum's entire history at that address.

Iterative regression plans require N searches to create an account in N years. Address time mechanisms attempt mitigation but break compatibility with existing ERC20 contracts that use opaque storage slot generation.

Buterin, these surveys show important patterns. “Replacing all state destinations with Merkle branches is too much, replacing specific state destinations with Merkle branches is acceptable,” he explained.

The analysis suggests that there are hierarchical state systems that distinguish high-valued frequently accessed states from low-valued infrequently accessed states. However, backward compatibility is extremely difficult because the lower layers cannot support dynamic parallel calls.

New storage types enable developer choice between cost and flexibility

The proposal introduces temporary storage that balances monthly and UTXO-based systems as core solutions. Buterin described his vision as follows. “The most practical way for Ethereum may be to moderate the current situation and at the same time introduce new forms of government that are much cheaper and more restrictive.”

Temporary storage is compatible with auctions, administrative votes, and game events. ERC20 scales can use resurrection strategies with bitfield historical state usage.

This design only supports 8 TB of temporary storage per month with 16 GB of permanent storage. UTXO systems expire at the logical extreme of zero time duration.

Buterin leaves user accounts and smart contract code accessible in permanent storage. NFTs and token balances are migrated to UTXOs or temporary storage, using temporary mechanisms in the event of a short-term event.

Core DeFi contracts will remain sustainable for the collective, but individual positions such as CDPs may migrate to cheaper tiers. Developers can use persistent storage exclusively at first, then adapt over time as the ecosystem adapts.