Vitalik Buterin unveils major overhaul of Ethereum staking to enhance decentralization

Vitalik Buterin plans to overhaul ETH staking and has outlined the progression of Ethereum’s roadmap, particularly focusing on the forthcoming Dencun update.

In a recent interview with the NFT platform Defiant while in Turkey, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin addressed the issue of staking centralization in the Ethereum network.

Buterin underscored the importance of reforming Ethereum’s staking process to support more effective mining and staking pools, with the ultimate goal of boosting the platform’s decentralization.

The initiative is a response to the challenges of data availability in off-chain systems, which have been sluggish due to high demands in the short and medium term.

Vitalik Buterin outlines Ethereum’s roadmap ahead

Buterin highlighted the upcoming Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4844, known as Danksharding, which is expected to significantly increase the data map space to 16 Megabytes per slot. This upgrade is part of Ethereum’s continuous efforts to improve scalability and efficiency.

Buterin also proposed a new voting system for governing future changes on the Ethereum network. This system aims to provide a more democratic and less disruptive process, potentially eliminating the need for hard forks. This strategic move is in line with Ethereum’s ongoing evolution to address scalability challenges.

Slated for early 2024, the Dencun upgrade is set to be a significant milestone in Ethereum’s development journey. This upgrade aims to play a pivotal role in improving Ethereum’s scalability, efficiency, and decentralization.

Ethereum chief lauds UTxO payment model

During the interview, Buterin also delved into the potential adoption of the Unspent Transaction Output (UTxO) model, a system currently employed by blockchains like Bitcoin and Cardano. This exploration signifies Ethereum’s willingness to consider a variety of strategies to tackle the existing challenges in its network.

Upon Buterin’s reference to UTxO, there was an immediate and humorous response from Cardano enthusiasts on the microblogging site X. Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, joined in with a satirical remark, quipping, “Ethereum 3 will solve it all,” in a light-hearted jab at the discussion.

Responding to a comment, Hoskinson expressed his view that Cardano’s achievements would likely never be acknowledged as significant by Vitalik or the Ethereum team. He also suggested that Ethereum is only now discovering solutions that Cardano has been working on for years.