Vitalik Buterin details two-track overhaul for Ethereum: binary state tree and new VM

In an X post Sunday, Vitalik Buterin outlined two execution-layer changes for Ethereum: moving to a binary state tree (EIP-7864) and, over time, replacing the EVM with RISC-V. He said these components account for more than 80% of proving bottlenecks. The state-tree proposal has been in draft since January 2025, while the VM path is more speculative and faced a November 2025 rebuttal from Offchain Labs favoring WASM.