[Keynotes] Possible futures of the Ethereum protocol, part 1: The Merge

Ethereum’s PoS system has performed well since its 2022 launch, but there are areas for improvement to boost security, finality speed, and accessibility for solo stakers. Ethereum’s roadmap, separated into “The Merge” (technical improvements) and “The Scourge” (economic and centralization issues), highlights key goals:

1. Single-Slot Finality: Current block finality takes 2–3 epochs (around 15 minutes). To reduce this time to a single slot (12 seconds), developers are exploring different consensus mechanisms, such as signature aggregation, Orbit committees (a selective validator approach), and two-tiered staking. Single-slot finality aims to improve transaction speed and allow validators to stake with just 1 ETH, down from the current 32 ETH requirement.
2. Single Secret Leader Election (SSLE): Ethereum plans to address security vulnerabilities in its validator selection process by keeping validator identities hidden until block production. SSLE proposals like the Whisk protocol aim to prevent Denial of Service (DoS) attacks targeting specific validators.
3. Faster Transaction Confirmations: Shortening confirmation times to around 4 seconds could enhance user experience and the efficiency of DeFi applications. Techniques like proposer pre-confirmations and reduced slot times (from 12 seconds to 4) are considered, though these could create challenges in validator coordination and network latency.
4. 51% Attack Recovery: Current protocol relies on social coordination for recovery from 51% attacks, which could be improved with automated detection and response to censorship or attacks, ensuring attackers cannot easily compromise the network.
5. Raising the Quorum Threshold: Raising the finality threshold (from 67% to 80%) could improve security by making contentious finalization scenarios safer, allowing solo stakers to block malicious finality more effectively.
6. Quantum Resistance: With quantum computing advancing, Ethereum is preparing for quantum-resistant cryptographic solutions to secure the protocol against future threats.

You can read the full article on Vitalik Buterin website.