Vitalik Buterin proposes Ethereum protocol overhaul targeting state tree and virtual machine

Vitalik Buterin has proposed an overhaul of Ethereum's core protocol focused on the state tree and execution layer, which account for over 80% of current proving costs. He highlighted EIP7864, which would replace the current hexary Merkle Patricia tree with a binary tree to cut Merkle proof sizes by roughly four times and lower proving costs, arguing that shorter proofs and page-based storage grouping could reduce bandwidth needs and allow some transactions to save more than 10,000 gas. Buterin also suggested a longer-term shift from the EVM toward a RISCV-style architecture and a vectorized math precompile to accelerate cryptographic operations. Analyst DBCrypto warned that repeated deep protocol changes could increase complexity and potential attack surfaces, though Buterin maintains Ethereum must evolve as zero-knowledge proofs move to the center of its roadmap.