Ethereum is scaling fast, but that growth makes it harder for everyday users to run full nodes. These nodes require lots of storage and can be tough to manage.
To solve this, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed “partially stateless nodes”—a lighter way to stay connected without needing all the data.
What’s the Problem with Full Nodes Today?
Running a full node on Ethereum is difficult because it takes up a lot of space. As the network expands, those responsibilities get bigger. Plans to boost Ethereum’s transaction capacity could make tracking full nodes harder, threatening decentralization.
At present, anyone using third-party RPC providers to access Ethereum data faces trust, censorship, and privacy issues. Although that is a challenge, Vitalik wants to address it.
🔥 NEW: Vitalik Buterin proposes partially stateless nodes to scale Ethereum, enabling 10–100x gas limit increases while reducing full node storage needs. pic.twitter.com/4Vr2BGJ36D
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 19, 2025
Introducing “Partially Stateless Nodes”
The new proposal would allow users to run a lightweight node version that only keeps up with the parts of the Ethereum state they care about, like specific wallets, commonly used tokens, or favourite apps. Due to cryptographic tools, you can log in to anything you need, whenever you want, without storing the key yourself.
Source: ethresear.ch
Users can set which data their node keeps using a config file or by putting it on the blockchain. Once the information is there, they can easily access and view what they want, without needing copies on their phones. He also provides a few quick improvements for the switch. His idea is to change EIP-4444 to make the data size smaller for nodes. He wants to introduce a more expensive gas fee for transactions that heavily use storage. He also encourages creating an arrangement to keep old data on many networks.
Conclusion
Vitalik believes his vision could simplify Ethereum usage and make it even more decentralized. As new ways to run a node become available, people can stay off the grid even as Bitcoin grows. This is a significant concept that could impact our daily dealings with Ethereum.
Disclaimer
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