In a recent blog post, Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggested potential changes to the Ethereum protocol that could reduce centralization.
Buterin's Ethereum Article Examines the Possible Impact of Adding More Features on the ETH Network
“Should Ethereum mind adding more things to the protocol?” The article examines the complex balances between integrating certain features into the protocol and leaving them to other layers of the ecosystem.
Buterin talked about various protocols, including the account abstraction protocol ERC-4337, ZK-EVMs, private mempools, code precompiles, and liquid staking.
However, Buterin expresses a strong preference for 'incorporating' some protocols such as ERC-4337 into Ethereum's code rather than private mempools. However, he also acknowledged that each feature has a complex balance of benefits and costs that will continue to evolve over time.
Used as an abbreviation for memory pool, mempool can be defined as a waiting area for transactions that have been initiated but not yet processed on the blockchain.
A significant part of the blog post shared by Buterin revolves around the concept of liquid staking. Currently, Lido, a liquid staking pool, controls over 32% of staked Ethereum. Although this rate is spread across different validators, Buterin expresses concern about the concentration of Ethereum's liquid staking providers.
Rather than relying on moral pressure to encourage a more diverse group of staking providers, Buterin suggests that changes to Ethereum's protocol could further decentralize liquid staking operations.
According to Buterin, this could include changing the methods of liquid staking provider RocketPool or granting extra governance powers to a randomly sampled board of small stakers.
The co-founder concluded by stating that these are complex issues that will continue to evolve over time.
*This is not investment advice.
