Ethereum is targeting a significant network upgrade to reduce transaction finality to under one minute, a move aimed at improving its competitiveness against faster Layer 1 blockchains. The roadmap confirmation was delivered by Ethereum Foundation researcher Luca Zanolini at BUIDL Asia 2026.
"A key roadmap target is to get transaction finality under one minute," Luca Zanolini, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, said during his presentation at the conference on April 17, 2026.
The push for faster finality—the time it takes for a transaction to be considered permanent and irreversible—directly addresses a core challenge for usability in decentralized finance (DeFi) and payment protocols on Ethereum. While the network is the largest by total value locked (TVL), rivals like Solana and Avalanche offer significantly faster settlement times. As of April 17, 2026, the long-to-short ratio for ETH sits at 1.54, a metric indicating that long positions are outpacing short positions.
Achieving sub-minute finality would represent a major milestone, potentially increasing network adoption and strengthening Ethereum's position as the primary settlement layer for DeFi. This technical enhancement, combined with ongoing developments in Layer 2 scaling solutions, could positively influence the long-term value of ETH by making the network more efficient for a broader range of applications.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
