Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has put forward a proposal to alleviate the strain on the Ethereum blockchain and simplify its proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, making it “considerably simpler and lighter.”
On December 28, Buterin suggested a method to reduce the number of signatures required from validators to maintain network functionality, ultimately lessening the overall load on the Ethereum blockchain. Currently, Ethereum supports a substantial number of validators, approximately 895,000, in an effort to achieve decentralization and involve regular individuals in staking.
Maintaining such a high number of validators, however, poses significant technical challenges, involving the processing of a large number of signatures, around 28,000 per slot. Buterin emphasized that this is an exceptionally heavy load and has implications such as compromising quantum resistance, intricate forking, and scaling signatures through zero-knowledge proofs (SNARKs).
Furthermore, this approach does not fully meet the objective of enabling ordinary individuals to participate, given the relatively high 32 ETH minimum required to become a validator.
Buterin’s proposal suggests moving towards a more moderate solution, reducing the number of signatures per slot from 28,000 to around 8,192. This would lead to significant technical simplifications, enhance quantum resistance, and maintain a substantial total slashable ETH at approximately 1-2 million ETH, where slashing serves as a mechanism to enforce positive validator behavior.
Three potential approaches were suggested by Buterin: relying on decentralized staking pools entirely, implementing a two-tiered system with “heavy” and “light” staking, and introducing rotating participation with accountable committees. These solutions aim to bring the digital signature load to a more manageable level.
The key advantage of these proposed solutions is that they set a manageable level for the future signature load, making protocol and infrastructure development more straightforward. Buterin emphasized that any future increase in the Ethereum protocol’s load can be considered through hard forks only when developers are confident that the technology has advanced enough to handle a larger number of signatures per slot with the same ease.
In May, Buterin had previously cautioned against “stretching” Ethereum’s consensus beyond its core functions of validating blocks and securing the network.
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