Vitalik Buterin Explores Ethereum’s Future in New Essay

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has shared his thoughts on the blockchain’s state post-The Merge and its future prospects in a blog post.

Possible futures of the Ethereum protocol, part 1: the Mergehttps://t.co/JycODdM4wW

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 14, 2024

The main outcome of the hard fork in September 2022 was the transition from the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Buterin described this event as “long-awaited and hard-earned.”

“Today, Ethereum is a PoS system that has been reliably operating for two years, and the algorithm has performed exceptionally well in terms of stability, performance, and avoiding centralization risks. However, there are still some important areas where the mechanism needs improvement,” the programmer noted.

Accelerating Transactions and Supporting Solo Staking

One of the main goals he considers is reducing the time for transaction finalization, which currently can take up to 15 minutes. He sees the solution in implementing the possibility of completing the process in one slot. The programmer explored this topic in detail back in July.

A related issue with reducing the finalization period is the democratization of staking. Buterin believes one necessary step in this direction is lowering the minimum deposit for validators from 32 ETH to 1 ETH. 

This would be a crucial measure to support solo staking and involve more users in the process of securing the network, the Ethereum co-founder is convinced.

Compromises Are Inevitable

Within the current mechanism, these tasks conflict in terms of overhead. One-slot finalization will impose higher equipment and internet bandwidth requirements on node operators. Meanwhile, there is already a geographical concentration of validators in a few favorable regions, Buterin emphasized.

Among the options for resolving these contradictions, he mentioned:

• improving signature aggregation protocols, potentially using ZK-SNARKs;
• a new “orbital committees” mechanism, which will allow a selected set of nodes to finalize transactions using Orbit SSF tools;
• implementing two-tier staking with different validator powers depending on the deposit size.

Network Security Remains a Priority

The programmer also addressed the issue of enhancing network security. One solution in this direction, he believes, is implementing the concept of a “single secret leader.” Currently, attackers can match a node with an IP address and launch a DoS attack on the validator about to propose the next block.

Buterin suggested exploring ways to strengthen the network against quantum computing threats, which he considers a real issue in the near future. 

Additionally, he considered the possibility of increasing the quorum for transaction finalization to prevent contentious situations and process failures. According to the Ethereum co-founder, this solution can be realized by increasing the number of solo stakers, who will also serve as protection against a 51% attack.

Back in July, Buterin highlighted the need to prepare the network to counter such threats.