2024-03-28 15:03:40
While more validators can mean more security, community members say too many validators can be problematic.
The Ethereum network recently reached the milestone of one million validators, with 32 million Ether staked, which is about $114 billion at current market prices.
On March 28, the Dune Analytics dashboard created by Hildobby according to, which was designed to track developments in Ethereum staking, showed that the network has reached one million validators, with 32 million staked ETH representing 26% of the total supply. The data also revealed that about 30% of the staked ETH is contained in Ethereum’s liquid staking pool platform called Lido.
Staking pools like Lido remain popular as they allow users with smaller amounts of ETH to pool their assets and participate in staking.
Validators ensure the security of the blockchain by monitoring the network for malicious transactions. An example of this is double-spending, i.e. spending the same currencies twice. On the Ethereum blockchain, validators are involved in processing and validating transactions within the network. Those who wish to participate in this process will need to top up 32 ETH. In return, they receive a certain amount of ETH rewards.
According to many, there are already too many validators
Although a higher number of validators can make the blockchain more secure, some members of the community say that too many validators can also be a problem.
According to Evan Van Ness, venture investor and Ethereum supporter, there is already “too much” staking. Gabriel Weide, who runs a staking pool, believes that too many validators can eventually lead to “failed transactions”.
Meanwhile, Coinbase Wallet CTO Peter Kim said that while the number of validators is “impressive,” the 32 ETH cap “artificially inflates it.” However, he suggested that could soon change.
As the number of validators continues to rise, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed ways to improve the decentralization of the network. On March 27, Buterin published a blog post suggesting that validators be penalized in proportion to their average error rate.
If many validators make mistakes in a given segment, the penalty for each mistake will be higher. Such an approach could potentially reduce the advantage of large ETH validators over smaller ones, according to Buterin.
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