Ethereum Has Solved the Blockchain Trilemma

Buterin characterizes Ethereum’s progress as a structural change, not a functional change, pointing to live code already reshaping the network.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin over the weekend announced that the blockchain trilemma, the long-standing belief that the network cannot simultaneously achieve isolation, security, and scalability, has been resolved.

His statement marks an important claim of the ecosystem, asserting that this success is no longer a theory but is achieved through live technology in the network.

Live Development Shift Ethereum Network Design

In a detailed post shared by X on January 3, Buterin argued that the release of PeerDAS on the Ethereum mainnet, combined with zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (ZK-EVMs) reaching the alpha stage, has changed what the network can do in practice.

“The trilemma has been solved – not on paper, but in working code,” he wrote.

Buterin also noted that a sample data acquisition is already in place, while ZK-EVMs have reached “production quality performance,” and security work is ongoing.

He compared Ethereum’s current structure to previous peer-to-peer systems such as BitTorrent, which he says offers high bandwidth but lacks consensus, and Bitcoin, which he says has achieved strong consensus and decentralization of exit fees.

According to the developer, with PeerDAS and ZK-EVM, Ethereum now combines all three, allowing high bandwidth without centralized control. He described the change as “not a small development” but a move toward “a new and more powerful type of decentralized network.”

Buterin’s post also revealed a multi-year roadblock. He expects an increase in the gas limit in 2026, the first opportunities to use ZK-EVM nodes, and further improvements in 2030 as ZK-EVMs become the main way to verify blocks. He added that the creation of a distributed block is still a long-term goal to reduce the central points of control in arranging transactions.

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Public reaction has shown both excitement and debate. CryptoSensei wrote that these changes are “not incremental tweaks” and emphasized that the liveness of PeerDAS makes the claims difficult to refute as a theory.

However, others, like Solana developer Mert Mumtaz, dismissed the blockchain trilemma as an outdated concept.

“It’s not real. The trilemma doesn’t really exist today,” he told X.

Why Segregation Still Matters

The Ethereum developer’s comments follow earlier warnings about the dangers of centralization. In his New Year’s message, he said the future of blockchain depends not only on development but also on maintaining distribution and usability as it grows.

That concern gained traction in 2025, a year marked by major developments such as Pectra and Fusaka, but also by criticism that Ethereum is too dependent on layer-2 networks and large staking operators.

Market performance added to this tension, as the price of the ETH network token remained unchanged in 2025 despite high usage, institutional interest, and record development activity, which casts doubt on whether technological progress alone can translate into investor optimism.

Analysts say Buterin’s latest message is reframing the conversation. Rather than arguing about short-term price movements, it puts the focus on whether Ethereum can support large-scale applications without research, downtime, or excessive costs. As Daniel Tschinkel pointed out in a recent community post, users end up trusting systems that work consistently and predictably.