Vitalik Buterin Pushes for Faster Withdrawals to Cement Ethereum’s Role as Primary Asset Platform

Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined a focused vision for the network’s next steps, emphasizing transaction speed and cost efficiency as critical to strengthening Ethereum Layer 1 (L1) as the default hub for issuing digital assets.

Following significant progress from major Layer 2 (L2) projects, Buterin celebrated that six rollups—including Base, Optimism, Unichain, Scroll, Inkonchain, and KintoXYZ—are now fully compliant with Stage 1 requirements. This marks a crucial milestone in Ethereum’s roadmap for scalability.

Rather than urging these projects toward Stage 2, Buterin has placed higher priority on reducing withdrawal times. Currently, users may face week-long waits to retrieve funds, creating liquidity challenges and raising the cost of capital. Buterin aims to cut native withdrawal times to under one hour in the short term, and just 12 seconds in the medium term.

“If we can reduce native withdrawal times to under 1h short term, and 12s medium term, then we can further cement the Ethereum L1 as the default place to issue assets,” he stated.

To achieve this, Buterin recommends leveraging Zero Knowledge (ZK) proof systems, pointing developers toward ethproofs.org for tracking ZK-EVM proof advancements. His earlier proposal for a 2-of-3 system combining ZK proofs, Optimistic proofs (OP), and Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) remains central to this goal. Such a system could bridge the gap between speed, security, and operational maturity.

Buterin foresees users adopting configurations such as ZK + ZK + OP or ZK + ZK + security council tiebreaks. The main short-term obstacle, he notes, is the high gas cost of frequent proof submissions. “If you try to submit a 500k+ gas ZK proof (or a 5m gas STARK) much more often, it adds a high additional cost,” he explained.

His long-term strategy focuses on proof aggregation—combining multiple rollup proofs into a single verification submitted once per slot. This approach could unlock near-instant asset movement across L2s via Ethereum’s L1, creating a faster and more economically efficient ecosystem.

With Ethereum’s scaling strategy evolving, Buterin’s emphasis on speed is a clear signal that transaction efficiency will be pivotal in shaping the network’s role as a global financial infrastructure.