Introducing The Scourge, the next phase in the Ethereum roadmap from Vitalik

Key points: 

• The Scourge is aimed at making the network more resistant to censorship and more decentralized.
• Buterin also confirmed an update from The Verge — which will now include the integration of the Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (SNARK) technology into Ethereum.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has added a new phase to the Ethereum technology roadmap aimed at making the network more resistant to censorship and more decentralized.

The new plans for the Ethereum network were revealed by Buterin in a Nov. 5 Twitter post — revealing Scourge in the now-expanded six-part technology roadmap.

Ethereum has been in its second phase — the Surge — with a goal of reaching 100,000 transactions per second through aggregation after it switched to a proof-of-stake (PoS) network on September 15.

The updated technology roadmap now adds the Scourge as a new third tier, followed by the previously-known tiers - Verge, Purge, and Splurge.

Updated roadmap diagram! pic.twitter.com/MT9BKgYcJH

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) November 4, 2022

According to the Ethereum roadmap, Scourge’s goal is to “ensure reliable and trusted ingestion of neutral transactions and avoid MEV centralization and other protocol risks.”

The Ethereum co-founder has called for a "more trusted neutral" consensus layer, as miners are known to use transactions on the Ethereum network to their advantage.

Buterin has previously described a credible neutrality mechanism as one that "does not discriminate or discriminate against specific individuals."

Miner Extractable Value (MEV) occurs when miners drive other participants in the network by deciding which transactions to place in a block and in what order.

This allows miners to copy all successful trades from the mempool and execute their trades in front of arbitrage seekers or anyone trying to make a profit.

Therefore, after the merger, Ethereum is associated with a higher level of centralization and censorship.

After the network transitioned to PoS, the percentage of blocks shared with the U.S. was 73% compliant with Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) requirements as of Nov. 3 — a number that many felt was too high.

Ethereum bull and founder of The Daily Gwei, Anthony Sassano, previously said in an Oct. 15 Twitter post that the current fight against censorship is “more important than scaling.”

Ethereum protocol upgrades in order of importance over the next 6-12 months:

- Beacon Chain withdrawals
- PBS/crLists/related censorship-resistance upgrades
- Proto-danksharding (EIP-4844)

Just my humble opinion - censorship resistance is more important than scaling right now

— sassal.eth (@sassal0x) October 15, 2022

Although full details of the disaster were not disclosed, the Ethereum co-founder recently proposed a "partial block auction" solution, in which block builders are only given the right to decide something about the block.

Other proposals to combat censorship at the consensus level have been proposed — such as the Single Unified Value Expression Auction (SUAVE) solution from Ethereum R&D firm Flashbots.

Buterin also confirmed an update from The Verge — which will now include the integration of the Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (SNARK) technology into Ethereum.

The addition of SNARKs will add much-needed privacy protection to the Ethereum network while enabling the traceability of anonymous transactions.

Buterin also noted that “a clearer quantum security role” will be implemented at various stages of the Ethereum roadmap as a necessary part of the “endgame” protocol.