The founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, recently suggested a number of modifications to the network’s staking architecture. Decentralisation will be strengthened, and the computational load on the consensus layer will be decreased. The proposal comes as Ethereum encounters difficulties linked to the dangers of centralization and the enormous number of signatures needed for consensus. The Ethereum network may become more accessible and effective as a result of Buterin’s idea, which has the potential to revolutionise how staking and consensus are handled.
Node operators and delegators are the two different categories of participants in the current Ethereum staking model. The task of maintaining nodes and providing collateral, typically in the form of ETH, falls on node operators.
While delegators are not compelled to take part in any other way, they do give some ETH. Staking pools that provide liquid staking tokens (LSTs), such as Rocket Pool and Lido, have made this two-tiered staking mechanism more well-known. Buterin highlights two key problems with this arrangement, though. The processes for selecting node operators have a centralization risk since they are either insufficiently decentralised or have other issues. The second issue is that the Ethereum Layer 1 places a considerable computational burden on the network by verifying about 800,000 signatures per epoch, a quantity that may rise.
Buterin thinks that delegators should play a bigger part in the network in order to solve these problems. He lists two categories of resolutions: delegate choice and consensus participation
Delegates might decide which node operators they want to support in the delegate selection model, giving them a “weight” in the consensus. As a result, the network would become more decentralised and give them more authority. Delegators could be given a smaller role in the consensus process in the consensus participation model, acting as a check on node operators. This would enable more people to take part in the network’s validation process without having to assume all of the duties and hazards associated with operating a node.
Buterin offers specific suggestions for how to put these solutions into practise. Allowing each validator to declare two staking keys—a persistent staking key (P) and a rapid staking key (Q)—is one such suggestion.
The consensus procedure could be improved and the number of required signatures could be decreased by using these keys in a variety of ways. For instance, the protocol can demand that both the node and a randomly chosen delegator approve before a message from a node can be considered valid.
In summary, Buterin’s approach seeks to accomplish two key goals. First and foremost, it aims to enable those who lack the means or skills necessary to solo-stake to take significant part in the network. Second, it intends to facilitate decentralisation by lowering the threshold for consensus signatures to about 10,000, making it simpler for more people to run a validating node.
The Ethereum protocol itself or within staking pool protocols might be used to implement these improvements, providing a flexible means of enhancing the network’s staking paradigm.