- Vitalik’s new proposal aims to enhance Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system.
- Two major goals: achieve single-slot finality and reduce staking requirements to 1 ETH.
- Three solutions discussed: signature aggregation, Orbit committees, and a two-tier staking system.
In a recent blog post, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin laid out a plan for further improving the network’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism. He focused on two main goals: speeding up block finality and making staking more accessible.
The proposed changes include achieving single-slot finality, where blocks are confirmed in one step, and reducing the minimum staking threshold to 1 ETH from the current 32 ETH. These updates, if implemented, would make Ethereum more efficient and open up staking opportunities to a wider group of users, further decentralizing the network.
Key Solutions for Ethereum’s Future
To achieve these goals, Vitalik proposed three possible solutions. The first involves improving the signature aggregation protocol, a critical component in verifying validator participation. Enhanced aggregation could allow Ethereum to handle more validators without significantly increasing overhead.
The second solution, called the Orbit committee mechanism, suggests using a randomly selected group of validators to finalize blocks. This approach balances decentralization and efficiency by preserving economic finality—where attacks on the network would still carry significant costs—while allowing quicker block confirmations.
Lastly, a two-tier staking system is proposed. In this system, lower-tier stakers with smaller deposits could participate without directly impacting finality, while higher-tier stakers would bear the main responsibility for securing the network.
Single-Slot Finality and Staking Accessibility
Single-slot finality would reduce Ethereum’s current 15-minute block finalization time to just 12 seconds, bringing it closer to other performance-oriented Layer 1 chains. This would greatly enhance the user experience by making transactions confirmed almost instantly.
Lowering the staking threshold to 1 ETH aims to democratize staking. Currently, only those with 32 ETH or more can participate as solo stakers, excluding many potential participants.
Vitalik’s proposed system would encourage more people to stake, boosting network security through broader participation. These changes could mark the next major phase in Ethereum’s evolution, following the successful transition to PoS with “The Merge.”
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