- Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has cautioned against expanding Ethereum’s consensus mechanism, citing high systemic risks to the ecosystem.
- Buterin expressed concerns about introducing additional functionalities to the core blockchain, emphasizing that each extension makes the core itself more fragile.
- He highlighted potential vulnerabilities that could arise from techniques such as price oracles and re-staking initiatives, urging caution.
Ethereum’s (ETH) co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has cautioned against the misuse of Ethereum’s consensus mechanism, arguing that extending its core functionalities could pose high systemic risks to the ecosystem. This warning came in a blog post published on May 21 titled “Don’t overload Ethereum’s consensus”.
Buterin expressed concerns about certain techniques that could introduce high systemic risks to the ecosystem and stressed the need to discourage and resist such approaches. He went on to add:
There is a natural urge to try to extend the blockchain’s core with more and more functionality because the blockchain’s core has the largest economic weight and the largest community watching it, but each such extension makes the core itself more fragile.
He noted that over the years, many have proposed using Ethereum’s consensus for purposes beyond its core function of validating blocks and securing the network, such as price and data oracles, re-staking initiatives, and using layer-1 soft forks to recover layer-2 projects should they have issues. However, he warned that certain techniques could introduce serious vulnerabilities to the ecosystem, such as bugs or even an intentional 51% attack.
As an example, he pointed to the creation of ETH/USD price oracles, where Ethereum holders or validators could potentially be bribed to vote, potentially leading to a punitive fork in case of disagreement. He did, however, admit that more reliable oracles are needed and put out a case-by-case strategy for doing so on the grounds that issues are “inherently so different” from one another.
Buterin advised against expanding the functionalities of Ethereum’s consensus, asserting that any expansion would increase the costs, complexities, and risks of running a validator. He urged application-layer projects to exercise caution, suggesting they should avoid increasing the scope of blockchain consensus beyond verifying the core Ethereum protocol rules.
Ethereum transitioned from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in September 2022, a change known as “the Merge”. This was followed by the Shapella upgrade in April, which allowed for the withdrawal of staked Ethereum. These changes have intensified the focus on validator roles and security risks within the world’s largest smart contract network.
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