In the ETH Taipei 2024 event in Taipei, co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, introduced the concept of “Rainbow Staking” with the aim of increasing the decentralization and participation of the Ethereum network and addressing the concerns of centralization.
At the Ethereum Developers Conference ETHTaipei, which officially opened on the 21st, Vitalik, the founder of Ethereum, personally came to Taipei to give the opening speech, bringing together industry leaders to share their visions and prospects for the future of Ethereum.
Vitalik mentioned that with the implementation 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 have emerged, allowing ETH holders of any amount to easily stake and receive rewards, reducing the financial and technical barriers. However, this convenience has also resulted in the unintended consequence of resource concentration, which could threaten the security of the Ethereum network.
Furthermore, Vitalik pointed out that many current staking behaviors rely on a combination of “social pressure + virtue.” He further raised questions about the unique aspects of the Ethereum community in Taiwan, as well as how technologies like ZK and DID can improve modern democratic mechanisms.
Vitalik proposed the exploration of solutions and encouraged people to re-engage in solo staking. He mentioned the potential new staking mechanism called “Rainbow Staking,” which would allow light nodes to not participate in every block validation process, thereby avoiding penalties (slashing) for absence. The goal is to enhance the decentralization and participation of 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 every time slot. If they fail to fulfill their responsibilities, they will be penalized (meaning that a portion of their staked Ether will be deducted as a penalty).
Light Operators: Unlike Heavy Operators, these nodes only need to occasionally participate in the signing process and will not be penalized for non-participation (i.e., they cannot be slashed).
However, this proposal is currently in the community discussion stage and requires further mechanism validation before implementation.
For more information, please refer to the following articles:
– “What is Vitalik’s ‘Square Voting’ method? How does it change the rules of democracy?”
– “SEC questions Ethereum’s ‘Too Centralized’ PoS! Further delay of Grayscale ETHE’s transition to spot ETF”
– “Vitalik praises Arbitrum as ‘truly decentralized,’ proposes three solutions to enhance Ethereum’s PoS efficiency”
– “Vitalik once again proposes DVT (Distributed Verification Technology) to address centralization issues with Lido”