The Ethereum "Impossible Triangle" dilemma has been solved: How ZK-EVM and PeerDAS are reshaping the network

【Blockchain Rhythm】At the very beginning of this year, the Ethereum ecosystem has received a major signal. Vitalik recently publicly stated on social media that as ZK-EVM enters the alpha stage (performance metrics have reached production-level standards, with a primary focus on security verification), coupled with PeerDAS officially launching on the mainnet, it is time to delve into what this combined approach means for Ethereum. He emphasized that this is not a minor optimization, but a fundamental transformation of Ethereum into a new architecture of a decentralized network.

How Important Is This Step Compared to History

To understand its significance, we can look at the development trajectory of blockchain. BitTorrent appeared in the 2000s, offering ample bandwidth and high decentralization but lacking a consensus mechanism. Bitcoin in 2009 solved the consensus problem, achieving high decentralization at the cost of bandwidth limitations—because it operates through replication verification rather than distributed tasks.

Now, with the addition of PeerDAS (2025) and ZK-EVM (expected to be used in small-scale networks starting in 2026), the situation has completely changed. This combination endows Ethereum with three key features: decentralization, consensus mechanism, and high bandwidth. The so-called “impossible triangle”—once thought impossible to achieve simultaneously—is no longer just theoretical on paper but has been cracked through actual running code. Data Availability Sampling (DAA) is already running on the mainnet, and ZK-EVM is close to production-level performance, with the main remaining task being security testing.

The 4-Year Roadmap for Scalability

This vision is not achieved overnight but has a clear timetable and phased goals.

2026: Driven by mechanisms like BALs (blob constraints) and ePBS (Ethereum proposer-builder separation), even without relying on ZK-EVM, the gas limit will be significantly increased. Additionally, the opportunity to run ZK-EVM nodes will emerge for the first time, allowing more independent validators to participate.

2026–2028: This phase is infrastructure-intensive. It involves re-pricing the gas mechanism, optimizing state structures, shifting execution loads into blobs, and a series of fine-tuning to ensure security for higher gas limits. These seemingly technical adjustments are actually laying the groundwork for exponential expansion later.

2027–2030: ZK-EVM will gradually become the mainstream method for network block validation. By this stage, the gas limit will experience a new leap. We may see an Ethereum at a completely different scale.

Distributed Block Construction: The Final Step in Power Decentralization

Vitalik also mentioned a third dimension: distributed block construction. The ideal scenario is that complete blocks are never fully constructed on a single node. Even if this ideal is not fully reached, the substantive power in block construction should be as dispersed as possible.

This can be achieved through two approaches. One is at the protocol level, such as expanding the FOCIL mechanism to make it the main channel for transactions entering blocks. The other is off-protocol, creating a distributed builder marketplace ecosystem. The core goal of both paths is consistent: reduce the risk of centralized forces intervening in real-time transaction packaging and create a better competitive environment for geographic fairness.

Overall, these three development directions (the combined scalability of PeerDAS+ZK-EVM, phased gas optimizations, and distributed block construction) form a complete narrative loop. The long-standing issues of centralization pressure, transaction fee pressure, and network load bottlenecks that have troubled Ethereum are being addressed from multiple dimensions simultaneously. This is not only a technological advancement but also signifies the formation of a more robust and decentralized Web3 infrastructure.