At the “ETH Taipei 2024” event in Taipei, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed the concept of “Rainbow Staking” with the aim of increasing decentralization and participation in the Ethereum network, addressing concerns about centralization.
(Background information:
Vitalik’s first full Chinese interview! Interested in Taiwan? Underestimating PoS? What is Plurarity?)
The Ethereum developer conference, ETHTaipei, officially opened on the 21st at the Nangang Bottle Cap Factory in Taipei. Ethereum founder Vitalik personally came to Taipei to serve as the opening speaker, bringing together industry leaders to share their visions and prospects for the future of Ethereum.
Concerns about centralization in Ethereum are deepening. Vitalik stated that with Ethereum adopting the Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism, there has been a lack of enthusiasm among coin holders to stake their coins, which could lead to concerns about network centralization.
He pointed out that the original purpose of introducing the PoS mechanism was to lower the threshold for running nodes and further promote decentralization. However, with the rise in the price of Ether, accumulating 32 ETH to become a solo staker has become a major challenge.
To address this issue, protocols for liquid staking, such as Lido (LSTs), have emerged, allowing holders of any amount of ETH to easily stake and receive rewards, reducing the barriers of capital and technology. However, this convenience has also brought about the side effect of excessive concentration of resources, which could threaten the security of the Ethereum network.
Furthermore, Vitalik pointed out that many staking behaviors currently rely on the combination of “social pressure + virtue.” He further questioned:
“Want to hear V God talk about the uniqueness of the Taiwan community in Ethereum, how technologies like ZK and DID can improve modern democratic mechanisms?” Please read:
Vitalik’s first full Chinese interview! Interested in Taiwan? Underestimating PoS? What is Plurarity?
Proposal of Rainbow Staking to address Ethereum’s centralization challenge. Vitalik suggested the need to explore solutions and encourage individuals to participate in solo staking again. He mentioned the potential new staking mechanism called “Rainbow Staking,” which would allow light nodes to not have to participate in the validation process for every block, thereby avoiding penalties (slashing) due to absence. The goal is to increase decentralization and participation in the Ethereum network.
In the “Rainbow Staking” model, there are two types of staking roles:
Heavy Operators: These nodes need to participate in the signing process in each time period or slot. If they fail to perform their duties properly, they will be penalized (meaning that a portion of their staked Ether will be deducted as a penalty).
Light Operators: Unlike Heavy Operators, these nodes only need to occasionally participate in the signing process and will not be penalized for failing to participate (i.e., they cannot be slashed).
However, this proposal is still in the community discussion stage and requires further mechanism validation before implementation.
For more information, please read:
What is the “Quadratic Voting” advocated by Vitalik? How does it change the rules of democracy?
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