Buterin has argued in favor of upholding the Ethereum consensus simplicity and against overtaxing validators.
Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of Ethereum, has expressed caution over the dangers of extending Ethereum’s consensus beyond its basic features. In a thorough blog post titled “Don’t overload Ethereum’s consensus,” Buterin underlined the significance of maintaining the blockchain’s minimalism and focusing on its fundamental functions of confirming blocks and securing the network.
Buterin advised against using Ethereum for extra purposes as the proof-of-stake mechanism, which went into effect in September 2022, is what establishes the consensus and might pose serious systemic dangers to the ecosystem. He argued that Ethereum’s consensus should not be stretched beyond what it was designed to do.
Buterin emphasized the significance of avoiding potential vulnerabilities and guaranteeing the network’s stability and security by highlighting the necessity of maintaining Ethereum’s fundamental functionality.
The Ethereum community is reminded in Buterin’s blog post to prioritize the core values and goals of the blockchain and to avoid adding extraneous complexity that can jeopardize its integrity.
The opinions and suggestions offered by Ethereum’s co-founder have weight and impact in determining the platform’s future course as it continues to develop.
Buterin pointed out that throughout the years, a number of suggestions or concepts have circulated that recommended using the Ethereum social consensus for various reasons, such as price and data oracles, re-staking programs, and employing layer-1 soft forks to restore layer-2 projects should they encounter problems.
“There is a natural urge to try to extend the blockchain’s core with more and more functionality because the blockchain’s core has the largest economic weight and the largest community watching it, but each such extension makes the core itself more fragile.”
Overall, Buterin said that any expansion of the “duties” of Ethereum’s consensus increases the costs, complexities, and risks of running a validator.
Precaution should be taken with application-layer projects “taking actions that risk increasing the scope of blockchain consensus to anything other than verifying the core Ethereum protocol rules,” he said, summarizing:
“We should instead preserve the chain’s minimalism, support uses of re-staking that do not look like slippery slopes to extending the role of Ethereum consensus, and help developers find alternate strategies to achieve their security goals.”
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