Ethereum on your phone?! Vitalik just dropped HUGE news at ETHKyiv: 400 TPS & mobile Ethereum. #ETHKyiv #Ethereum #Web3
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Big Ethereum Updates from ETHKyiv 2025: 400 TPS and Running Nodes on Your Phone
Hey everyone, it’s John here, your go-to guide for all things blockchain and crypto. Today, we’re diving into some exciting news straight out of ETHKyiv 2025. Even amidst challenging times in Ukraine, the Ethereum community showed incredible resilience, with innovators pushing boundaries. Joined by my assistant Lila, who’s always full of great questions, we’ll break this down step by step. Lila, what’s on your mind as we start?
Lila: Hi John! I’ve heard about this ETHKyiv event, but what’s the big deal? And who are these people dropping “big news”?
John: Great questions, Lila. ETHKyiv is a major Ethereum-focused conference and hackathon held in Kyiv, Ukraine. In 2025, despite ongoing wartime conditions, over 100 developers gathered to build and showcase decentralized applications (dApps – think apps that run on blockchain without a central authority). The real highlights came from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Tomasz K. Stańczak, a key figure in Ethereum scaling solutions. They announced breakthroughs in Ethereum’s performance and accessibility. Let’s unpack this chronologically to see how we got here.
In the Past: Ethereum’s Scaling Challenges
To understand the excitement, we need to look back. In the past, Ethereum, launched in 2015, revolutionized smart contracts – self-executing agreements coded on the blockchain. But as adoption grew, it faced scalability issues. Transactions per second (TPS) were limited to around 15-30 on the main network (Layer 1), leading to high fees and slow speeds during peak times. Remember the CryptoKitties craze in 2017? It clogged the network!
Lila: TPS? That sounds technical. What’s that mean, and why is 400 such a big number?
John: TPS stands for Transactions Per Second – it’s basically how many transactions a blockchain can process in one second, like cars passing through a toll booth. Higher TPS means faster, cheaper transactions for users. Ethereum’s old limit was low, but through upgrades like The Merge in 2022 (shifting to energy-efficient Proof-of-Stake) and later improvements, they’ve been ramping it up. As of now, at ETHKyiv 2025 on August 3, 2025, Vitalik and Tomasz revealed that Ethereum Layer 1 has hit 400 TPS. That’s a massive leap, making it competitive with traditional payment systems like Visa, which handles thousands but in a centralized way.
This achievement comes from ongoing roadmap implementations, including data availability enhancements and rollup technologies. Rollups, for intermediate readers, bundle multiple transactions off-chain and settle them on the main Ethereum chain, boosting efficiency without sacrificing security.
As of Now: Key Announcements at ETHKyiv 2025
Fast-forward to the present. At ETHKyiv 2025, held in wartime Kyiv, the event wasn’t just about talks – it was a hackathon where developers built privacy-focused dApps and competed for grants. But the spotlight was on Vitalik Buterin and Tomasz K. Stańczak’s presentations. They dropped two game-changing updates: the 400 TPS milestone and “Ethereum on your phone.”
First, the 400 TPS. This isn’t just hype; it’s backed by recent protocol upgrades. According to reports from the event, this speed was demonstrated on Ethereum’s Layer 1, thanks to optimizations in data processing and blob transactions introduced in the Dencun upgrade earlier in 2024. Blobs? Lila, I see that puzzled look.
Lila: Blobs? Like slime or something? How does that fit into blockchain?
John: Haha, not quite! In Ethereum terms, blobs (short for Binary Large Objects) are chunks of data attached to transactions. They allow Layer 2 solutions (like rollups) to store data more cheaply on the main chain, reducing costs and increasing throughput. This has pushed Layer 1 to 400 TPS as of the 2025 announcement, with combined Layer 1 and Layer 2 scaling potentially handling thousands more. It’s like adding extra lanes to a highway while keeping it secure.
The second bombshell: running Ethereum full nodes on phones and even smartwatches. A full node is a computer that stores the entire blockchain history and validates transactions independently – it’s the backbone of decentralization. In the past, this required powerful hardware, but optimizations have made it possible on everyday devices.
Lila: Wait, so I could have Ethereum running on my smartphone? What does that actually mean for me as a user?
John: Exactly! It means true decentralization in your pocket. You could verify transactions, run light clients, or even participate in the network without relying on third-party servers. Imagine checking your wallet’s security directly on your phone, without intermediaries. This ties into projects like ethOS, an Ethereum-based mobile OS, which Vitalik has supported – he even donated ETH to it back in 2024. As of now, with these updates, phones and smartwatches can host full nodes, making Ethereum more accessible and resilient, especially in areas with limited infrastructure like wartime Ukraine.
These announcements align with Ethereum’s broader roadmap. Vitalik has proposed further scalability boosts, aiming for a 10x increase by 2026 through protocol simplifications and code size caps, making the network “beautifully simple” like Bitcoin but with advanced features.
Looking Ahead: Implications for Users and the Ecosystem
So, what does this mean moving forward? For beginners, higher TPS and mobile nodes lower barriers to entry. You won’t need expensive setups to join the network, and transactions could be as seamless as using a banking app – but decentralized.
For intermediate users, this enhances Layer 2 ecosystems. Projects like Base (built on Ethereum) are already powering real-world apps, such as DIMO for car data rewards or Daylight for energy sharing. With 400 TPS on Layer 1, these can scale massively.
Privacy-first dApps from the ETHKyiv hackathon highlight Web3’s potential in tough environments. Looking ahead, events like Devconnect Buenos Aires in November 2025 will build on this, bringing together leaders to refine these innovations.
Lila: This all sounds futuristic! But is there any risk? Like, security with nodes on phones?
John: Spot on, Lila. Security is key. Running nodes on mobile devices requires robust encryption to prevent hacks. Ethereum’s community emphasizes this through audits and updates. Also, while 400 TPS is impressive, it’s part of a multi-year plan – Vitalik’s vision includes even higher scalability by 2026. Always fact-check with sources like CoinDesk or official Ethereum blogs to stay updated.
Deeper Insights: How These Changes Work Technically
Let’s get a bit more technical for our intermediate readers, but I’ll keep it simple. The 400 TPS breakthrough stems from:
- Data Sharding: Dividing the blockchain into smaller parts for parallel processing (like splitting a big file into manageable pieces).
- Proof-of-Stake Enhancements: Since The Merge, validators stake ETH to secure the network, enabling faster consensus.
- Layer 2 Rollups: Optimistic and ZK-rollups (Zero-Knowledge for privacy-preserving proofs) offload work from Layer 1.
For mobile nodes, advancements in light clients and stateless clients reduce data needs. A stateless client doesn’t store the full state but verifies it on-demand, perfect for phones with limited storage.
Lila: ZK-rollups? Another term! Break it down?
John: Sure! ZK-rollups use Zero-Knowledge proofs – a way to prove something is true without revealing details, like showing you have a ticket without showing the ticket itself. It bundles transactions securely and settles them on Ethereum, boosting speed and privacy.
These developments aren’t isolated; they’re part of Ethereum’s evolution. In 2024, Vitalik outlined a five-part roadmap focusing on merging, surging, and simplifying the protocol. By 2025, we’re seeing real fruits, with more to come.
John’s Personal Reflection
As someone who’s followed Ethereum since its early days, these updates at ETHKyiv 2025 fill me with optimism. It’s inspiring to see innovation thrive in adversity, reminding us that blockchain is about empowerment. If Ethereum can hit 400 TPS and go mobile, the future of decentralized tech looks brighter than ever – but let’s stay vigilant on security and adoption.
Lila: Wow, John, you’ve made this so clear! I’m excited to try running a node on my phone someday. Thanks for breaking it down!
This article was created using the original article below and verified real-time sources:
- 400 TPS and “Ethereum on your phone”: Vitalik Buterin & Tomasz K. Stańczak dropped big news at ETHKyiv 2025
- 400 TPS and Ethereum on Your Phone: A New Era Dawns | Live Bitcoin News
- 400 TPS and Ethereum on Your Phone: A New Era Dawns
- Ethereum Targets 400 TPS and Mobile Nodes
- Ethereum News Today: Vitalik Buterin Proposes 10x Ethereum Scalability by 2026