Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, recently spoke about the progress and future developments of the platform, focusing on Ethereum’s transition to Proof of Stake (PoS).
The Ethereum co-founder noted that “the Merge,” the transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS), was one of the most significant moments in Ethereum’s history.
Two years later, PoS has proven stable and effective in terms of security and decentralization. However, some areas still need improvement.
Vitalik shared a 2023 roadmap, dividing future tasks into two categories: technical improvements (such as enhancing system stability and accessibility for smaller validators) and economic changes (aimed at further reducing centralization risks). This update will focus on the technical aspects of Ethereum’s PoS and how they can still be improved.
One of the biggest challenges, he said, is reducing the time needed to finalize blocks. Currently, it takes about 15 minutes to fully finalize a block, and becoming a validator requires 32 ETH.
Vitalik expressed the goal of lowering the minimum ETH required for staking to 1 ETH and reducing block finalization time to 12 seconds or less. This would make Ethereum more accessible and enhance transaction speed for users.
To achieve these goals, certain obstacles must be addressed. Faster finalization and lower staking requirements could increase the workload on validators.
Vitalik highlighted recent research that might help overcome this, such as using advanced signature aggregation techniques or forming special committees of validators to handle the finalization process more efficiently.
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Another challenge Vitalik mentioned in his blog is enhancing security. Currently, attackers could target validators by knowing in advance who will propose the next block.
To address this, Vitalik proposed a “secret leader election” system, where the identity of the block proposer remains hidden until the block is created. This would prevent attacks on specific validators before they can propose their blocks.
Overall, he noted that while Ethereum’s transition to PoS has been successful, there are still many areas for improvement, such as achieving faster finality, making staking more accessible, and increasing network security against attacks.
