TL;DR
- Vitalik Buterin supports the reduction of the 32 ETH requirement for solo staking in order to facilitate individual participation.
- He proposes a temporary reduction to 16 or 24 ETH, highlighting that solo stakers are key to Ethereum’s security and decentralization.
- After technical improvements, the threshold could drop to 1 ETH, allowing greater adoption of staking without relying on third parties.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has shown his support for reducing the minimum ETH requirement necessary to participate in solo staking.
During a discussion on the platform X, Buterin expressed his interest in making solo staking more accessible, a method that allows users to contribute to the security and decentralization of the network without relying on third-party services or centralized entities. Currently, participants must lock up 32 ETH, a significant amount that has limited participation in this system, preventing more users from contributing to network protection.
I think there's a sane version of this where we recognize that 32 ETH is much more of a barrier than bandwidth reqs, and temporarily do a trade where we up the bandwidth reqs a bit and in exchange drop the staking deposit minimum to eg. 16 or 24 ETH.
It's net-good for both…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 3, 2024
Solo staking plays a crucial role in Ethereum’s infrastructure, as it allows users to run full nodes independently. This type of participation helps protect the network against attacks, especially the so-called 51% attacks, where malicious actors could try to control most of the network’s power. According to Vitalik, even a small number of solo stakers can add an important level of security, strengthening both privacy and the system’s resistance.
During the Ethereum Singapore 2024 event, Vitalik emphasized the importance of increasing solo staking participation to improve security and promote greater decentralization.
Vitalik Buterin’s Proposal
To achieve this, he suggested reducing the staking requirement to 16 or 24 ETH as a temporary solution. Although this approach could increase bandwidth requirements for stakers, Buterin noted that once technical improvements are implemented in the network, such as single-slot finality, the minimum requirement could drop to just 1 ETH. This would significantly ease access for a larger number of interested individuals, allowing more users to contribute to the network’s maintenance without relying on third parties.
Technical and Geographic Challenges
However, as the debate progresses, some developers have raised concerns about the technical feasibility. They particularly point out that bandwidth limitations vary significantly depending on geographic location. Despite these challenges, Buterin remains firm in his belief that lowering the threshold for staking is an essential step for Ethereum’s continued evolution.
Moreover, Vitalik has taken a firm stance on Ethereum projects that refer to themselves as layer 2 solutions. He insisted that these projects must meet certain standards before the end of 2024 in order to continue being recognized as part of Ethereum’s layer 2 infrastructure
