Among the many things we’re birthing in Ethereum “Scourge, ” a recent blog post by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin highlights a couple that he considers crucial.
Still the second largest cryptocurrency network (after Bitcoin), ETH is conscious of decentralized and ‘The Scourge’ is a necessary step in that regard.
Now, with ETH moving toward a rollup-heavy track in an attempt to achieve 100,000 transactions per second with Layer 2 network, “The Scourge” will prioritize the risks of decentralization, specifically those of the staking layer.
Ethereum Tackles Block Centralization
Centralization in block construction is a major concern for Buterin. Just two parties decide what goes into most ETH blocks, which he said means there is the potential for delayed transaction inclusion and market manipulation. If ETH can solve this bottleneck, it remains in the spirit of its decentralization.
Buter also argued for changes to staking economics. Currently, only 30 percent of ETH tokens are staked, but if that percentage goes up considerably, that could lead to new risks. Strategies that include weakening the slashing mechanism that punishes malicious behavior, as well as dominant Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) would degrade ETH’s status as ETH as the network’s main currency.
One potential solution is to cap how much stake could be placed at once, or have a two tiered staking system where you have slashable and unslashable stakes. This would balance the two (network security and decentralization).
Buterin also dabbled in a number of application-layer solutions including staking hardware optimized for specialized node operation, squad staking, airdrops, and decentralized block building marketplaces. And as Ethereum evolves, these innovations could help secure a more decentralized Ethereum even more.
This is Ethereum’s ongoing promise to keep its network decentralized and secure as demand continues to increase worldwide.
