Crypto: Vitalik Buterin calls for Ethereum code cleanup to stop clutter

Ethereum, the engine of blockchain innovation, faces a major challenge: its increasing complexity. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the network, warns of the congestion of the protocol, an excess of complexity which threatens the efficiency and security of Ethereum. To remedy this, he proposes a radical solution: simplify the code by eliminating superfluous elements. However, this approach calls into question: can Ethereum be made lighter without compromising its fundamental principles of decentralization and trust?

The growing complexity of Ethereum: an obstacle to trust and autonomy

While he sees the network as the Linux of blockchain, Vitalik Buterin expressed concerns about the uncontrolled growth of the Ethereum protocol, pointing out that blockchain has become a tangle of hundreds of thousands of lines of code that makes its operation increasingly opaque to users.

According to him, this phenomenon affects several fundamental aspects of the network :

• A loss of trust: excessive complexity forces users to rely on experts who explain how the protocol works, rather than a direct understanding of the system by the users themselves;

• Weakening decentralization: although the number of network nodes is large, increasing complexity reduces true decentralization, because it limits access to information for a large majority of participants;

• Failure to comply with the test “walkaway” : Buterin points out that, in the current state, if development teams disappeared, it would be almost impossible to rebuild quality clients from existing code, which calls into question the resilience of the network in the long term.

The tendency to add new features without removing outdated ones exacerbates this situation. By prioritizing the addition of new capabilities, Ethereum becomes increasingly difficult to understand and maintain, which has consequences for its security and efficiency.

Buterin insists: “even if the network has a large number of nodes, which theoretically allows for resistance to failures, it fails to meet the fundamental criteria of simplicity and trust”.

Vitalik Buterin's proposal for cleaning the Ethereum code

To counter this problem, Buterin proposes the introduction of a “garbage collection” process in the development of Ethereum.

Concretely, this approach would aim to reduce the complexity of the network by eliminating superfluous elements and simplifying the code. Buterin calls for systematic cleanup, where little-used features would be extracted from the main protocol and transferred into external smart contracts, thus unloading the blockchain from the heaviness of overly complex code.

“It is essential that we reduce the number of lines of code and avoid excessive dependencies on overly complex cryptographies”he clarified. This simplification would also make customer behaviors more predictable and easy to implement, by reducing dependence on overly technical elements and promoting a clearer and more stable approach.

Past examples of simplification, such as the transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS), show that large-scale reforms can be effective in lightening the network while maintaining its security.

However, Buterin's proposal goes beyond these initial reforms. He imagines a future where Ethereum protocols are stripped of unnecessary additions and the blockchain becomes more robust and accessible.

However, this simplification does not come without challenges. How can we balance this reduction in complexity with the need to maintain innovation, particularly the major reforms to come, and the adaptation of the network to user needs? And, more importantly, could this approach have implications for decentralization, one of the fundamental pillars of Ethereum?