The co-founder of Ethereum has put forward an important proposal to change the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.
He suggests reducing the validator lockup requirement from 32 ETH to just 1 ETH, to make Ethereum more accessible and efficient for users.
Make staking solo again
Buterin believes that lowering the minimum stake to 1 ETH would help more people participate in solo staking, and this change would democratize staking and improve decentralization within the Ethereum network.
Now the minimum requirement of 32 ETH serves to balance security, decentralization, and operational costs.
But Buterin thinks that this high threshold acts as a barrier for many smaller participants who wish to contribute to Ethereum’s security but can’t afford such an investment.
By reducing the threshold, more solo stakers could join the network, which might help decrease staking centralization and align with Ethereum’s goal of being accessible to a bigger audience.
Efficiency over all
One challenge with lowering the threshold is ensuring that the network remains efficient and doesn’t become overloaded.
Buterin noted that a reduction in the validator requirement would likely increase the number of validators, which could slow down finalization times or raise costs for running a node.
To tackle this issue, he also proposed implementing the so-called “single-slot finality,” which would speed up block confirmations, cutting down finalization times from the current 15 minutes to around 12 seconds.
This improvement would boost user experience while maintaining strong security for Ethereum, even with more validators.
Advantages and disadvantages
The Ethereum community has long discussed how to make staking more accessible.
Many solo stakers have expressed dissatisfaction with the current 32 ETH requirement, making Buterin’s proposal potentially transformative for smaller investors.
Still, any changes will need thorough testing and research to ensure they don’t compromise network stability.
If approved, this proposal could lead to a new phase of decentralization for Ethereum, that’s for sure.
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