- Vitalik Buterin rejects claims Ethereum’s research embraces centralization.
- PeerDAS upgrade could exclude home stalkers, says Szilágyi.
Vitalik Buterin has firmly rejected claims that Ethereum’s research team is embracing centralization, responding to concerns raised by Péter Szilágyi, head of the Ethereum development team. Szilágyi had expressed worries about the direction of Ethereum’s development, particularly regarding the proposed PeerDAS upgrade.
At the recent Foundation research workshop, Buterin emphasized that discussions were centered on minimizing centralization. Key focus areas included analyzing multiple proposers to eliminate the builder role, maximizing the power of inclusion lists, and exploring transaction-inclusive fork selection. Additionally, efforts are being made to accelerate the deployment of the Orbit mechanism, aimed at significantly reducing the minimum deposit size for staking.
Meanwhile, Szilágyi’s concerns revolve around the PeerDAS proposal, which would increase the Ethereum blob size to 32 MB. He argues that this change could exclude home stakers with simpler computing setups, potentially compromising the network’s decentralized nature.
PeerDAS is the direction #Ethereum is being taken into with the next forks, with the aim to raise (not immediately) the blobs up to a staggering 32MB.
— Péter Szilágyi (karalabe.eth) (@peter_szilagyi) July 26, 2024
That's fun, but are we aware that local block production is collateral damage that the PeerDAS authors are willing to take?
Notably, on social media, Szilágyi stated, “Ethereum research is murdering home stakers live in front of everybody. This is not something I signed up for when joining Ethereum.” He further suggested that the research team has accepted centralization as long as it can be verified. It is a stance that he believes contradicts Ethereum’s foundational principles.
Critical Discussions
Buterin’s response aims to reassure the community that decentralization remains a core focus of Ethereum’s development efforts. This exchange underscores the ongoing debates within the Ethereum ecosystem about balancing technological advancements with the principle of decentralization.
In a broader context, Buterin has previously highlighted Ethereum’s decentralization compared to other networks. At ETHCC in Brussels, he noted that Ethereum has a more robust and decentralized network than Bitcoin, where two mining pools control 50% of computing power. In contrast, unidentified individuals or independent stakers operate a significant portion of Ethereum’s network. It demonstrates ETH commitment to decentralization.
The controversy surrounding the PeerDAS upgrade and Szilágyi’s concerns highlights the critical discussions within the Ethereum community as it navigates technological progress while striving to maintain its decentralized ethos.
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