Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has put forward three proposals to address technological challenges that, in his opinion, may arise in connection with the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism of Ethereum.
The main problem is the need for validators, who ensure the network's operation, to create many digital signatures using cryptography for the normal functioning of the network. This represents a significant load on the network, and with an increase in the number of validators, the number of signatures also increases, which can lead to overload. Recent updates planned to strengthen signature requirements.
Vitalik Buterin presented three methods to address this issue in a message posted on the Ethereum research forum on December 27th. The main idea is to reduce the required number of signatures to 8192 for each blockchain slot.
The first solution focuses on creating decentralized staking pools. This will require an increase in the minimum amount of ether required to launch a validator, forcing those who run validators to pool their resources.
The second approach involves creating two levels of stakers: one with higher requirements and another with lower requirements. These two levels will be treated differently during block finalization.
The third method involves the use of a rotating set of participants, where a random set of validators is selected for each block slot. This would distribute the workload and reduce the overall number of required signatures, but, as Buterin notes, such an approach also has its complexities.
