Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, is suggesting a significant modification to Ethereum’s consensus mechanism which would reduce the validator lockup requirement from 32 ETH to just 1 ETH. This step is aimed at increasing participatory democracy in staking, thereby boosting Ethereum’s decentralization.
At present, Ethereum requires a minimum stake of 32 ETH in order to become a validator, a parameter set in place to appropriately balance network security, decentralization, and overhead costs. That being said, Buterin believes that this model poses as an obstacle for small-scale participants and independent stakers who would like to contribute to the network’s security but cannot afford such a steep cost.
The proposed reduction to 1 ETH could offer a solution to this issue. It would significantly lower the entry barrier, thereby encouraging more independent participants to join in on the network. This could also help to combat concerns surrounding staking centralization. However, it is worth noting that decreasing the threshold may pose a new challenge: how to maintain efficiency without overwhelming the network.
To counter this potential hurdle, Buterin is proposing the idea of a “single-slot finality,” a feature that would expedite block confirmations, thus reducing the completion times from the usual 15 minutes to roughly 12 seconds. This move would not only heighten user experience but it would also help to ensure that Ethereum’s network security remains up to par, even with an anticipated increase in validator counts.
The proposal is now up for consideration and if accepted, it could potentially kindle a new era of decentralization for Ethereum, inviting thousands more validators to participate in the network with as low as 1 ETH. However, extensive testing and research need to be carried out to ensure the solidity and balance of the network are not forfeited in this process.