SuperEx丨Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin proposed significant changes to the network

superex · October 17

#SuperEx #Ethereum #VitalikButerin

On October 14th, Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, expressed dissatisfaction with the first major overhaul of Ethereum’s consensus mechanism in a blog post and proposed several potential improvements to Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) model. Among his suggestions were lowering the financial threshold for individual stakers and shortening Ethereum’s block confirmation time.

Since Ethereum’s upgrade to Proof-of-Stake, the network has no longer relied on energy-intensive computer networks to secure itself, shifting instead to a system where validators lock up assets in the network. Validators are rewarded for bundling transactions into blocks and verifying the accuracy of other blocks, but there is one key condition: validators need to stake 32 ETH (about $84,000) as collateral, a high barrier that has clearly caused hesitation for many.

Vitalik Buterin criticized this phenomenon and emphasized:

“Polls have repeatedly shown that the primary factor preventing more people from solo staking is the 32 ETH minimum threshold. Lowering this threshold to 1 ETH would solve that problem, and other issues would become the main constraints on solo staking.”

The second part of Buterin’s proposed improvements focused on the issue of transaction finality.

He pointed out that the current block confirmation time on Ethereum is relatively long, which results in users having to wait for extended periods to ensure the irreversibility of transactions in some scenarios. Buterin suggested shortening the transaction finality time to improve user experience, especially in areas like micropayments and high-frequency trading, where rapid confirmations are crucial. He explained:

“While Ethereum’s current mechanism offers strong security, we cannot overlook efficiency concerns. Shortening confirmation times would not only enhance network usability but also support more real-time applications.”

Additionally, Buterin mentioned the possibility of introducing more resilient penalty mechanisms to deter malicious validators from undermining the network’s security. Although the current penalties do provide some deterrence, they might be too lenient to address more sophisticated attack vectors. Thus, Buterin stressed the need to continually adjust and refine the incentive and penalty structures for validators to ensure the network remains stable and secure in any circumstance.

In the conclusion of his blog post, Buterin called for further discussion within the Ethereum community, noting that these improvements would not only offer greater flexibility for existing stakers but also bring in more participants to the ecosystem. While these proposals have yet to form a concrete timeline, it is clear that Buterin aims to push Ethereum towards greater decentralization and fairness through these changes.

With the introduction of these suggestions, the community’s attention to the future direction of Ethereum has intensified. Many industry experts believe that these proposals represent a significant step forward in making Ethereum more efficient and widely adopted. However, some have raised concerns about the pace of reforms, arguing that more discussions and testing are needed to ensure the network’s performance can be enhanced without introducing security vulnerabilities or systemic risks.

Buterin’s blog post has sparked extensive discussions both within and outside the Ethereum ecosystem. Many project developers and stakers have expressed support for these improvements, especially the proposal to lower the staking threshold, as it would further reduce the barrier to entry for everyday users, enhancing Ethereum’s decentralized nature. Nonetheless, the debate over specific implementation details and potential trade-offs is expected to remain a hot topic in the coming months.

Once these improvements are approved, they could potentially transform Ethereum’s consensus mechanism over the next few months or even years, making it more inclusive and efficient, laying the groundwork for Ethereum’s long-term sustainability.