In a recent Warpcast post, Ethereum's co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined plans to improve the Proof of Stake mechanism, emphasizing the importance of lowering the staking minimum to 1 ETH and speeding up block finalization.

The Need for Improvements in Ethereum's PoS System

Two years have passed since Ethereum transitioned to Proof of Stake, and while the system has been stable, Buterin sees the need to reduce the staking requirement from 32 ETH to just 1 ETH. This change would encourage more validators to participate, further decentralizing the network. Additionally, the goal is to finalize blocks in just one slot, shortening transaction confirmation times. However, such changes may increase the load on nodes.

Proposed Solutions and New Mechanisms

Buterin outlined three solutions to achieve these goals. The first is developing advanced signature aggregation protocols to process millions of validator signatures simultaneously. The second is the concept of orbit committees, which would see a randomly selected medium-sized committee finalizing blocks at regular intervals, ensuring high security with fewer validators. The third option is a two-tier staking model, where validators with different ETH amounts have varying responsibilities, including economic finalization and block validation.

Potential Impact on Ethereum's Performance

Buterin believes that these changes would significantly enhance Ethereum's performance without compromising its decentralization principles. Allowing staking with 1 ETH would make the network more accessible and increase participation from individual validators. Moreover, single-slot finalization would dramatically improve transaction confirmation speed.

The proposed changes by Vitalik Buterin could make Ethereum's network more accessible and efficient, enhancing speed and decentralization. The ecosystem's development will continue, and further steps remain to be seen.