Interpretation of Vitalik’s latest article

Source: Daoshuo Blockchain

On May 17, Vitalik published his latest article on his homepage (see the link after the article for the original text and translation), talking about Ethereum's short-term and medium-term goals: to continuously improve Ethereum's permissionlessness and decentralization.

Although this article does not talk about many new technologies, it once again makes it very clear that Ethereum's core and most important characteristics are permissionless and decentralized.

This article is worth sharing with everyone. It allows us to understand the essence of Ethereum more deeply from the core, see Ethereum's present and future more clearly, and be more firmly convinced of Ethereum's unshakable position in the first layer (Layer 1) blockchain ecosystem.

In this article, Vitalik talked about several topics that impressed me deeply.

1 About the centralization of Ethereum staking

This is a commonplace issue. Vitalik has mentioned this topic many times in his past articles. In this article, he mentioned this issue again.

He particularly emphasized the importance of individual mortgagees, and believed that it was necessary to improve the current situation in many ways, so that more Ethereum holders could become independent verification nodes themselves, rather than entrusting ETH to certain large institutions (such as Lido, RockerPool, etc.) and letting these institutions arrange mortgage operations.

In the article, Vitalik mentioned the various difficulties faced by individuals in staking: for example, the 32 ETH pledge threshold is too high, the threshold for individuals to run hardware is too high, and the penalties for accidents when individuals run nodes are too heavy, etc., and put forward his own views on these issues.

In fact, he has given relatively detailed analysis and solutions to these problems in his past articles, but those articles are too technical and rarely reported by the media, so the community does not seem to discuss them much.

However, in Ethereum's medium- and long-term planning, a series of ideas and methods to alleviate these problems have been conceived.

For example, in the future, Ethereum nodes are likely to be divided into different levels: core nodes require 32 ETH for collateral, and they are responsible for high-performance computing; non-core nodes only need to run light clients, and ordinary users do not need to collateralize 32 ETH to run light clients and participate in transactions or block verification.

In this way, a wider range of users can independently participate in the verification of the Ethereum main network without relying on institutions or organizations. This will further strengthen the decentralized nature of Ethereum.

2 About MEV

MEV is a new problem that has emerged since the outbreak of the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem.

MEV refers to the ability of miners to use their "privileges" to make extra profits from on-chain transactions through price differences.

This problem mainly troubles large transactions and high-frequency traders. For them, due to the amazing trading volume, a small price difference can generate a relatively large profit margin. For the vast majority of retail investors and low-frequency traders, the problem of MEV is not prominent.

I think this problem reflects more of the community's dissatisfaction with this phenomenon and concerns about miners' privileges and centralization.

Some applications in the DeFi ecosystem have taken corresponding measures to prevent MEV, such as Cowswap. In the article, Vitalik mentioned that he is now using Cowswap.

For this issue, I remember that Vitalik or the core developer of Ethereum mentioned an idea in an earlier article: that is, to use zero-knowledge proof to conceal transaction information and completely cut off the clues of miners using MEV to profit.

Preventing or (according to Vitalik's words, "minimizing") MEV, I believe that it will also be supported in the Ethereum architecture in the future.

3 About Ethereum's permissionless and decentralization

I think Vitalik's discussion on this point is the most valuable point in the whole article.

Since 2017, with the help of a series of big capitals, a large number of so-called "high-performance" first-layer (Layer 1) blockchains have emerged one after another, and their currency prices have recorded astonishingly high returns.

This situation has created a happy situation for both investors and participants, and this trend has not diminished to this day-------the new first-layer blockchain is still highly sought after.

As a result, a specious view has become increasingly popular in the crypto ecosystem: as the first-layer blockchain of the underlying infrastructure of the crypto ecosystem, it should pursue "high performance" and "high speed".

I don't care what others think of this view. What I care most about is whether the core members of the Ethereum community, especially Vitalik, the spiritual leader of Ethereum, will gradually be swept up by this rhetoric, thereby blurring his ideas and thoughts, and slowly leading Ethereum to the wrong path.

In this article, Vitalik clearly stated:

"There are an almost infinite number of blockchain projects targeting the niche market of "We can be super fast, we will consider decentralization later." I don't think Ethereum should be one of these projects. Ethereum Layer 1 can and certainly should become a strong base layer for Layer 2 solutions that adopt a super-scale approach, using Ethereum as a pillar of decentralization and security. ”

The soul of Ethereum and the essence of the crypto world remain.

Reference link:

《The near and mid-term future of improving the Ethereum network's permissionlessness and decentralization》：

https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2024/05/17/decentralization.html

《ETH does not need to be the fastest L1, continue to improve Ethereum's security and decentralization characteristics》：

https://www.blocktempo.com/vitalik-buterin-said-that-the-ethereum-network-will-focus-on-improving-its-permissionless-and-decentralized-features/