Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a significant change to improve transaction speeds on the Ethereum network, aiming to shorten confirmation times from seconds to milliseconds.
In a blog post dated June 30, Buterin discussed moving away from Ethereum’s current epoch-and-slot system to a new approach called single-slot finality (SSF). He highlighted both the benefits and challenges of this potential upgrade.
Current Confirmation Times
Buterin noted that the Ethereum Merge, which transitioned the network from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) in 2022, has already reduced transaction confirmations to 5-20 seconds. This is relatively fast compared to traditional payment methods like credit cards. However, Buterin believes there’s room for further improvement, especially for applications requiring confirmation times in the range of milliseconds.
Understanding Slots and Epochs
In Ethereum 2.0, a slot is a 12-second window during which a randomly selected validator proposes a new block. Every 32 slots make up one epoch, and completing one epoch involves validating blocks through multiple committees. This system is part of Ethereum’s Gasper consensus protocol, which ensures that once a transaction or block is finalized, it cannot be altered without significant cost.
Proposed Change to Single-Slot Finality
Buterin pointed out that the current slot-by-slot finality mechanism can be complex and prone to bugs, leading to delays in finality, which currently takes about 12.8 minutes. To address these issues, he suggested adopting single-slot finality. This new method would aim to make finality more immediate, similar to the Tendermint consensus mechanism but with an added feature: an “inactivity leak” to ensure the chain continues to operate even if a significant portion of validators go offline.
By making these changes, Buterin hopes to enhance Ethereum’s user experience and support applications requiring ultra-fast transaction times.
Summary Review: Vitalik Buterin‘s proposal to shift from Ethereum’s current epoch-and-slot system to single-slot finality aims to drastically speed up transaction confirmations, potentially bringing them from seconds down to milliseconds. This move could improve user experience and support applications needing ultra-fast processing times. However, the proposed change also comes with challenges, including the need to address complexities and potential bugs in the new system. Buterin’s suggestion reflects ongoing efforts to enhance Ethereum’s scalability and efficiency as it continues to evolve.
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