Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum Overcomes the Scalability Trilemma - ForkLog: cryptocurrencies, AI, singularity, future

# Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum Overcomes the Scalability Trilemma

The second-largest cryptocurrency network successfully overcomes the blockchain trilemma thanks to the development of zkEVM and the launch of PeerDAS, shared Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Now that ZKEVMs are at alpha stage (production-quality performance, remaining work is safety) and PeerDAS is live on mainnet, it’s time to talk more about what this combination means for Ethereum.

These are not minor improvements; they are shifting Ethereum into being a…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 3, 2026

According to his forecast, the first nodes of a new type will appear as early as 2026, and gas limits will be increased. Between 2027 and 2030, zkEVM technology is expected to become the “main validation standard.”

The long-term goal remains transitioning to distributed block creation — this will reduce centralization risks and provide equal conditions for participants from any region.

“Now that Ethereum has PeerDAS and zkEVM solutions (it is expected that small parts of the network will use them in 2026), we get: decentralized consensus and high throughput,” — Buterin noted.

He states that the blockchain trilemma is essentially solved, as the necessary technologies are already working on mainnet or “have reached production-level performance, and it’s only a matter of ensuring their security.”

PeerDAS (Peer Data Availability Sampling) — a data availability sampling technology that became a key element of the recent Fusaka upgrade. The protocol reduces load on nodes and increases overall blockchain performance.

Record On-Chain Metrics

Ethereum network activity remains high. Alongside record transaction demand, the number of active addresses is growing:

The monthly active address count has surpassed 10 million, setting a new historical maximum. Source: Token Terminal. On-chain transfers in stablecoins in Q4 set a new record, surpassing $8 trillion.

Quarterly dynamics of stablecoin transfers through the Ethereum network. Source: Token Terminal, X-account of user BMNR Bullz. According to Blockworks, in 2025, the issuance of “stablecoins” on Ethereum increased by approximately 43% — from $127 billion to $181 billion.

User X with the nickname BMNR Bullz noted that this dynamic reflects real asset usage rather than speculation.

“These are global on-chain payments […]. Infrastructure is already ready, adoption is gaining momentum,” — he added.

The Tokenization King

Ethereum leads in activity in the real-world asset tokenization sector (RWA). The platform’s share in the segment with a volume of over $19 billion is about 65%.

Source: RWA.
Source: RWA.
Source: RWA.
In the Ethereum network, stablecoins worth $170 billion have been issued. In second place is TRON with a figure of $81 billion, and third is Solana — $14 billion.

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading around $3160. Over the past seven days, the asset has increased by 4.8%, according to CoinGecko.

Recall that for the first time since July, the staking queue for Ethereum exceeded the withdrawal queue.