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2026 to Mark Ethereum ZK Rollup Inflection Point: Proof of Stake Sees 'Merge-like' Overhaul
BlockBeats News, December 26: Researchers and developers expect that 2026 will be a key year for Ethereum to achieve exponential scalability through zero-knowledge proofs (ZK). By then, some Ethereum validators will no longer re-execute transactions but will directly validate ZK proofs, fundamentally changing the way the blockchain operates, with scalability comparable to the Ethereum "merge" from PoW to PoS in 2022.
Ethereum researcher Justin Drake stated that the initial validators will start validating the ZK proofs of each block instead of re-executing all transactions, bringing instant scalability to Layer 1 and laying the foundation for a future 10,000 TPS. The current Ethereum mainnet throughput is about 30 TPS.
During Devconnet, Drake demonstrated that ZK proof validation can be done using an old laptop. It is expected that by the end of 2026, approximately 10% of validators will switch to ZK validation mode (Lean Execution Phase 1). This shift will significantly reduce the hardware requirements for validator nodes while maintaining network decentralization.
Ethereum Besu client engineer Gary Schulte pointed out that future computationally intensive work will be mainly handled by block builders and ZK provers, while regular validators will only need to perform lightweight verification, creating conditions for increasing the gas limit and overall throughput.
On the roadmap, Ethereum is currently in Phase 0 (voluntary validation), expected to enter Phase 1 (partial validator switch) in 2026, and move to Phase 2 in 2027, which will require block producers to generate ZK proofs, achieving full ZK rollup execution.
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