Brothers, don't just focus on yesterday's Cancun upgrade. The recently revealed plan is the real game-changer — starting in 2026, Ethereum's underlying architecture will undergo a revolutionary upgrade.

Researcher Justin Drake recently disclosed the core logic of this plan: by integrating ZK cryptographic proof systems into Layer1, it directly breaks through existing validation bottlenecks. It sounds complex, but the actual effect is quite intuitive — **the mainnet's transaction processing capacity will achieve a qualitative leap**.

**The current dilemma is clear:** each node needs to fully execute all transactions, which limits speed and results in high Gas fees. It's like every auditor having to personally review each account, which obviously hampers efficiency.

**The solution in 2026 is as follows:** top-tier block builders and ZK provers will bundle massive amounts of transactions to generate an efficient cryptographic proof. Ordinary nodes only need to verify this proof's validity to ensure the entire block's integrity. The verification cost drops sharply from "processing all data" to "checking a proof."

What practical effects will this shift bring?

**First, the node threshold will be significantly lowered.** Drake demonstrated completing the entire ZK verification process on an old laptop, meaning hardware requirements will drop substantially. More ordinary users can participate in staking and validation, increasing the network's decentralization.

**Second, the ceiling of mainnet throughput will be broken.** When verification is no longer a bottleneck, transaction processing capacity depends directly on data availability. This lays the foundation for future tens of thousands of TPS. Congestion and high Gas fees — two long-standing issues — are expected to be truly solved.

**Third, the boundary between Layer1 and Layer2 will become blurred.** The core technology of ZK-Rollup will be directly integrated into Ethereum's main layer, transforming the entire network into a giant ZK-Rollup system. Performance breakthroughs are within reach.

**The specific upgrade timeline is:**

From now until 2026 is the foundational preparation stage, with key improvements like EIP-4844 gradually deploying. In the first phase of 2026, about 10% of validators will switch to ZK validation mode, immediately expanding the mainnet's capacity. By 2027 and beyond, ZK systems will be fully promoted, combined with complete data sharding, and Ethereum's performance system will be truly complete.

Of course, this path isn't entirely smooth. Fully mature ZK-EVM still needs polishing, and the centralization risks of proof generation must be addressed — these are real challenges ahead. But the overall direction is clear — Ethereum is leveraging cutting-edge cryptography to build a future that is fast, low-cost, and more decentralized.

Will 2026 be a turning point for Ethereum compared to other public chains? What do you all think?