lean Ethereum Part 5: Devnets & Upgrade Coordination with Will and Raúl

March 18, 2026·39 min·2 clips

Raúl contrasts today's 180-byte BLS attestations with 3-kilobyte post-quantum XMSS signatures, and explains why hitting 1.2 kilobytes would unlock an entirely new networking design space.

The miniseries turns toward implementation. After earlier pieces on post-quantum signatures, SNARK aggregation, and Lean VM, the conversation gets into how those ideas become real client work. Devnets, specs, and cross-team coordination sit between research direction and production clients. The people problem is plain: Ethereum needs teams building systems that, in turn, help machines coordinate across a network. The bandwidth section gives the upgrade a hard edge. Post-quantum signatures mean validators have more data to move and verify. EIP 7870 sets the guardrails around signatures, system requirements, CPU, memory, and bandwidth, while keeping Ethereum's decentralization goals in view. The limits are intentionally moderate. That restraint pushes efficiency first, instead of simply asking the network to get bigger. Bandwidth is not improving evenly. Nielsen's law comes up as a useful trend, but Raul is careful about treating that trend as endless. That caution shapes the design. Ethereum uses bandwidth in bursts now, with the network mostly quiet until blocks, attestations, and aggregates need to move. Lean changes the pressure. Larger post-quantum signatures make network topology and transport choices harder to treat as background plumbing. QUIC enters near the end, too. The close points toward transport work, including QUIC and zero RTT, as part of making the upgraded network move efficiently.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how Ethereum upgrades move from ideas into real clients and the network stack.

Lean Ethereum's fifth episode moves past the design talk and into the work that makes upgrades real: devnets, specs, client coordination, and the peer-to-peer changes needed for much larger post-quantum signatures.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want the coordination story behind Ethereum upgrades, not just the cryptography.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Zero Knowledge Podcast