Ethereum’s Strawmap: The Ambitious Plan to Reach 10,000 TPS and Quantum Security by 2029
The Ethereum Foundation’s Strawmap targets 10,000 TPS on Layer 1, quantum-resistant cryptography, and native privacy features by 2029.
Ethereum has published its most ambitious long-term roadmap yet. The Strawmap, introduced in February 2026 by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake, outlines upgrades designed to make Ethereum faster, cheaper, more private, and quantum-proof by 2029.
What Is the Strawmap?
A “strawmap” is looser than a roadmap — a sketch of direction, subject to change as research progresses. The five goals are: fast Layer 1 (faster finality); Gigagas Layer 1 (10,000 TPS); quantum security; native privacy; and a global rollup ecosystem.
Goal 1: Fast Layer 1 — Finality in Seconds
Ethereum’s current block time is 12 seconds and full finality can take up to 16 minutes. The Strawmap targets slot times dropping from 12 seconds to 2 seconds, with full finality achievable in seconds — competitive with faster blockchains like Solana.
Goal 2: Gigagas Layer 1 — 10,000 Transactions Per Second
Current Ethereum Layer 1 processes roughly 15–30 TPS. The plan embeds zero-knowledge proof technology directly into the Ethereum Virtual Machine, allowing computations to be verified without re-executing them. This enables far more transactions simultaneously.
Goal 3: Quantum Security
The cryptographic algorithms securing Ethereum today could theoretically be broken by a sufficiently powerful quantum computer. The Strawmap calls for hash-based quantum-resistant signatures, with migration beginning as early as 2026. At least one quantum-resistant change is being considered for the Hegotá upgrade, scheduled for the latter half of 2026.
Goal 4: Native Privacy
Ethereum is currently pseudonymous — every transaction is publicly visible. The Strawmap calls for native privacy features built into the protocol, allowing transactions that conceal sender, recipient, and amount.
Goal 5: A Global Rollup Ecosystem
Ethereum’s Layer 2 networks — Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkSync — already process far more transactions than Layer 1 at much lower cost. The Strawmap envisions these reaching millions of TPS in aggregate.
What Does This Mean for ETH?
Ethereum’s price has been around $2,395 in 2026. The Strawmap makes the long-term bull case clearer: if these upgrades are delivered, Ethereum becomes a fundamentally more useful asset. The most concrete near-term milestone is the Hegotá upgrade, expected in the second half of 2026.
This article is educational only. It does not constitute financial advice. Always do your own research.
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