Key Points
Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has outlined plans to improve the network’s consensus model.
The proposed enhancements focus on single-slot finality, staking accessibility, and increased validator participation.
Proposed Enhancements
Despite the successful completion of the Merge, a crucial upgrade that transitioned Ethereum’s consensus algorithm from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, Buterin asserts that there are still areas where proof-of-stake needs to improve.
In a blog post dated October 14, he underlined the need for critical improvements to mitigate centralization risks and enhance overall functionality.
The proposed roadmap distinguishes between technical improvements, like stability and accessibility for validators, and economic changes aimed at addressing centralization.
One major area highlighted is the need for single-slot finality.
This change would reduce the current block finalization time from 15 minutes to just 12 seconds (or even four seconds), significantly improving user experience and making decentralized finance protocols more efficient.
Another significant issue is staking democratization.
Currently, a minimum of 32 ETH (around $81,500 at current prices) is required to participate in staking.
Buterin suggested lowering this threshold to 1 ETH to increase solo staking participation.
Buterin proposed several strategies to achieve these enhancements.
One such solution, dubbed “brute force,” involves improving signature aggregation through the potential use of ZK-SNARKs, enabling the processing of signatures from millions of validators within each slot.
He also introduced the concept of “orbit committees,” which would involve randomly selected medium-sized committees tasked with finalizing the chain while maintaining robust security features.
For the staking challenges, Buterin suggested a “two-tiered staking” model.
This model would allow for two classes of stakers – one with higher deposit requirements and another with lower, creating a more inclusive environment for participants while ensuring economic finality.
While the timeline for implementing these proposals remains uncertain, Buterin emphasized the necessity of continued development to strike a balance between simplicity and functionality.
He reiterated the importance of identifying a protocol that is “sufficiently simple that we are comfortable implementing it on mainnet.”