Vitalik Buterin Proposes Improvements to Proof of Stake, Aiming for 1 ETH Validator Staking

Today, Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin published a long article on Warpcast, “Possible futures of the Ethereum protocol, part 1: The Merge”, where he proposed improvements to Proof of Stake, and his aim for 1 ETH Validator staking.

Vitalik wrote, “Today, Ethereum has been a stably running proof of stake system for almost exactly two years, and this proof of stake has performed remarkably well in stability, performance and avoiding centralization risks. However, there still remain some important areas in which proof of stake needs to improve.”

He wrote on enhancing the technical design of proof of stake, exploring current ideas for further refinement, rather than providing an exhaustive list of potential improvements.
Vitalik said that the three goals of Ethereum staking are to:
1. Maximize the number of validators who can participate in staking (which directly means minimizing the minimum ETH required for staking).

2. Minimize the time for finalization.

3. Minimize the cost of running nodes.

He then added that ideally, it is hoped to maintain economic finality while improving the status quo in two areas: completing blocks in one time slot (ideally, maintaining or even reducing the current length of 12 seconds), rather than 15 minutes; allowing validators to stake with 1 ETH (less than 32 ETH).

Vitalik went on to note that he aims to align Ethereum’s performance with more centralized Layer 1 chains, ensuring that all users benefit from the enhanced security of the finality mechanism. Currently, most users don’t experience this benefit as they are unwilling to wait 15 minutes for finality, but with single-slot finality, transactions would be finalized almost immediately.

Additionally, it simplifies the protocol by reducing concerns over chain reversion, except in rare cases of inactivity leaks.

Furthermore, another goal that was talked about in the proposal is to support solo stakers by lowering the 32 ETH minimum required for staking to 1 ETH, which polls show is the main obstacle preventing more people from staking independently.

Courtesy: ‘Possible futures of the Ethereum protocol, part 1: The Merge’ by Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik also touched upon the assumption that in the event of a 51% attack, including unprovable attacks like censorship, the community would unite to implement a minority soft fork to ensure the “good guys” prevail. 

But Vitalik also pointed out the cons , as he said that relying too heavily on the social layer is unhealthy. The article also states that while full automation of recovery from such attacks is impossible due to the constraints of consensus algorithms, partial automation is achievable.

Vitalik concluded by touching upon the goal of preventing attackers from securing an easy win. He added that increasing the block finality threshold from 67% to 80% could enhance security, reducing the chances of “wrong side” victories in contentious situations which also highlights the importance of solo stakers. 

While solo stakers may not reach 51% of staked ETH, they could potentially form a “quorum-blocking minority (around 21% with an 80% threshold)”, preventing a 51% attack from succeeding without a fight and motivating minority soft forks to counter such threats, concluded Vitalik.

Also Read: Tyler Cowen Nominates Vitalik for Nobel Prize in Economics