It would seem that Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has doubts about the infrastructure’s ability to support ETH staking. Because of this, Buterin recently said in an interview that he would only stake a small number of coins to make sure the network was distributed and resistant to bad actors who would try to take over the platform and reverse transactions.
Buterin and Vitalik have Concerns About Staking Ethereum
Concerning the vulnerability of private keys and the threat it poses to his whole stake, Buterin has expressed worries about the possible risks of ETH staking through third-party infrastructure. A multi-signature approach, in his opinion, could offer superior security. His level of care has grown, though, because the present procedure is more challenging to set up.
Users use their private keys to sign transactions in a multi-signature system. Depending on how the Ethereum wallet is configured, a certain minimum number of signatures must be submitted in order to approve a transaction. This configuration increases security and lowers the possibility of unapproved access to cash.
The co-founder of Bankless explains the following on the podcast:
The main reason I personally only stake a small portion of my Ethereum (ETH) is because multi-sigs for staking are still quite challenging to set up and get complicated in a number of different ways. If you stake your Ethereum, it has to be all public and out, meaning the keys that access it have to be public on some system that is online.
ETH Prices Remain Stable Under $2,000
His comments have sparked a lot of debate. The majority of detractors are worried about Ethereum’s whole security architecture. Ethereum relies on a network of validators who must stake at least 32 ETH in order to have a chance of approving a block of transactions and earning block rewards and transaction fees after switching from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake system. Additionally required for network security, these validators prevent attacks on the blockchain.
On-chain data shows that there are more than 643,000 validators worldwide who have staked more than 20.5 million ETH. Each validator has bet, on average, 32.17 ETH. Notably, despite the recent upgrade allowing stakers to free their currencies, the validator count has gradually climbed over time, and the amount of ETH staked has significantly increased.
Cardano’s creator and one of Ethereum’s original co-founders, Charles Hoskinson, expressed his shock and said he was “lost for words,” adding that all of their ADA is staked as expected in a “properly designed proof-of-stake system.”
Prices for ETH are stable as of this writing and were unaffected by Buterin’s remarks. The coin has not yet crossed the $2,000 mark and, as of early July 2023, is trending below the highs of April 2023.
