Vitalik Buterin’s Blueprint for Ethereum Post-Merge: 1 ETH Staking and Instant Finality

Key Takeaways

• Vitalik Buterin has proposed critical changes to Ethereum. 
• Buterin suggests lowering staking requirements from 32ETH to 1 ETH.
• The Ethereum founder proposed using single-slot finality to reduce block finalization time from 15 minutes to 12 seconds.

Vitalik Buterin has a new blueprint for the Ethereum blockchain, two years after “the Merge,” its historical transition from proof-of-work mining to proof-of-stake (PoS).

In a detailed blog post , the Ethereum co-founder outlined his vision for improving the network, building upon its current PoS foundation to propel the platform forward. 

Lower Block Time Finalization 

Among his suggested improvements, Buterin is advocating for a new approach to block finalization , known as single-slot finality.

This would replace the current process, which takes around 15 minutes to complete.

The current system’s lengthy finalization time is a limitation, especially compared to rival blockchains like Solana (SOL) and Algorand (ALGO) , which can process multiple blocks per minute.

Buterin initially designed the existing system to prioritize security and achieve economic finality, making it economically unviable for an attacker to attempt a 51% attack and reverse transactions for profit.

However, with the PoS consensus now well-established, the network has become more stable and secure. Buterin expressed that the network needs to be scaled up to stay competitive with other top-tier blockchains.

The proposed single-slot finality would introduce an algorithm that finalizes blocks in a single slot, slashing the current finalization time from 15 minutes to just 12 seconds.

While Buterin notes that software solutions exist to enable single-slot finality, the real challenge lies in implementing them.

Lower Staking Requirement

Vitalik Buterin is also championing support for solo stakers, allowing individual ETH holders with a single ETH to participate in the network’s validation process.

As part of his vision, Buterin is proposing to drastically lower the staking requirement from 32 ETH to just 1 ETH. This move could significantly increase participation and further decentralize the network.

Currently, the 32 ETH threshold is a major hurdle for ordinary ETH holders who want to become validators. While this requirement was initially implemented to ensure better network security, it has limited access to the validation process.

“Poll after poll repeatedly shows that the main factor preventing more people from solo staking is the 32 ETH minimum. Reducing the minimum to 1 ETH would solve this issue to the point where other concerns become the dominant factor limiting solo staking,” Buterin wrote.

Ethereum Staking Polls. Source: Vitalik Buterin blog

However, Buterin acknowledged that accommodating solo stakers and implementing single-slot finality may come at the cost of increased overhead, conflicting with the goal of minimizing it.

Exploring a Potential Middle Ground

The Ethereum co-founder noted that bringing single-slot finality and lowering staking requirements could pose severe challenges to the Ethereum network. However, he proposed middle-ground solutions to balance network scalability with security concerns.

To mitigate the potential issues, Buterin outlines three key proposals for single-slot finality to work effectively with a large validator count without overwhelming node operators:

• Brute Force: Develop and implement ZK-SNARKs-based validator signature processing , enabling the rapid processing of millions of signatures within seconds.
• Orbit Committees: Establish randomly selected, medium-sized committees to finalize blocks. This approach prioritizes validators with high stakes while allowing smaller validators to participate. A committee rotation policy would ensure every validator gets a chance to contribute.
• Two-Tiered Staking: Create two classes of stakers: one with higher and one with lower deposit requirements. Only the higher deposit tier would directly provide economic finality.

The two-tiered staking proposal also includes alternative solutions for lower stakers, such as delegating to a higher-tier staker and a random sample of lower-tier stakers attesting needed to finalize each block.

One of the single slot finality proposals. Source: Vitalik Buterin blog.

Buterin suggests that developers can either maintain the status quo or combine proposed ideas to achieve single-slot finality. He also discussed how these new proposals to improve scalability will impact the overall roadmap for Ethereum post-merge. Notably, Buterin emphasized that these suggestions are focused on scalability improvements and do not represent a complete overhaul of the Ethereum roadmap.