At the “ETH Taipei 2024” event in Taipei, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed the concept of “Rainbow Staking” with the aim of increasing decentralization and participation in the Ethereum network to address concerns about centralization.
During the ETH Taipei developer conference, which officially opened on the 21st, Vitalik, the founder of Ethereum, personally came to Taipei to serve as the opening speaker, bringing together industry leaders to share their visions and prospects for the future of Ethereum.
Vitalik stated that with the adoption of the Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism in Ethereum, there has been a lack of enthusiasm among coin holders for staking, which could lead to concerns about network centralization. The original purpose of introducing the PoS mechanism was to lower the threshold for running nodes and further promote decentralization. However, with the rise in the price of Ether, accumulating 32 ETH to become a solo staker has become a major challenge.
To address this issue, protocols like Lido, which enable liquidity staking (LSTs), have emerged, allowing holders of any amount of ETH to easily stake and earn rewards, thereby lowering the barriers of capital and technology. However, this convenience also brings about the side effect of excessive concentration of resources, which may threaten the security of the Ethereum network.
Furthermore, Vitalik pointed out that currently, many staking behaviors rely on a combination of “social pressure + virtue.” He further raised the question:
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Vitalik proposed exploring solutions to encourage individuals to participate in solo staking again. He mentioned “Rainbow Staking” as a potential new staking mechanism that would allow light nodes to not have to participate in the validation process for every block, thereby avoiding penalties (slashing) due to absence. The goal is to increase decentralization and participation in the Ethereum network.
In the “Rainbow Staking” model, there are two types of staking roles:
Heavy Operators: These nodes need to participate in the signing process in each time period (or “slot”). If they fail to fulfill their responsibilities, they will be penalized (slash), meaning that a portion of their staked Ether will be deducted as a punishment.
Light Operators: Unlike Heavy Operators, these nodes only need to occasionally participate in the signing process and will not be penalized for not participating (i.e., they cannot be slashed).
However, this proposal is currently in the community discussion stage and requires further mechanism verification before implementation.
For more information, please watch the live stream at the following link:
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