Comparing the 2023 roadmap with the current plan revealed:
• Quantum security has been sharply elevated in priorities.
• VDFs and most EVM improvements have been significantly downgraded.
• Verkle is being replaced by the more ZK-friendly PBT construction.
• Privacy has become a first-class goal of the protocol for the first time (privacy pools, wormholes, keyed nonces).
• New features have emerged: zkzk-frames and leanSPHINCS for post-quantum scalability.
• The spec is actively being “leaned” toward full formal verification using AI.
The main trend: don't try to accelerate everything at once, but instead create specialized, scalable mechanisms and bet on STARKs and AI.

