Vitalik Buterin warned in a blog post today that the Ethereum consensus is fragile and should be used “sparingly” due to the high risk of forks in the chain.
buterin wrote:
“There is a natural need to try to extend the blockchain core with more and more features, because the blockchain core has the most economic weight and the largest community that watches it, but each extension makes the core is more fragile”.
Buterin added that we should be wary of projects looking to increase the “scope” of blockchain consensus to anything other than checking Ethereum’s core protocol rules, as this could lead to more “mandates” over time and a increased risk of forking the chain.
Ethereum (ETH) has over half a million validators securing the network that they have collectively staked 18.5 million ETH, worth more than $34 billion. These validators complete blocks every 6.4 minutes on the Ethereum network. The process is secure and sophisticated so that the chain recovers to the correct state even if an error or 51% attack occurs.
Extending the consensus system for other purposes may introduce “high systemic risks to the ecosystem and should be discouraged and resisted,” Buterin wrote. He added:
“Validator-staked dual use of ETH, while having some risks, is fundamentally fine, but attempting to ‘recruit’ Ethereum’s social consensus for your application’s own purposes is not.”
Buterin further explained that as long as a protocol keeps its losses contained for validators and users in the event of a complete crash, it is “low risk.” But, if the protocol is designed in such a way that the original Ethereum chain has to fork or reorganize to solve its problems, then it is “high risk, and I submit that we should strongly resist all attempts to create such expectations,” he said. he wrote.
There might be a middle ground, Buterin suggested, if protocols in the low-risk category incentivize participants to move to the higher-risk category. He also suggested using Techniques in the style of SchellingCoina consensus mechanism in which participants are asked to guess the average value of a certain parameter, such as price, and those whose guesses are closest to the average are rewarded.
What are the risks of extending the Ethereum consensus?
According to Buterin:
“As soon as a blockchain attempts to ‘connect’ with the outside world, conflicts from the outside world begin to affect the blockchain as well.”
In other words, if Ethereum validators start voting on things like price oracles that include a country’s currency in the midst of a political crisis, it could lead to an Ethereum chain split.
Buterin added:
“…once a blockchain begin by incorporating real-world price indices as a layer 1 protocol feature, it could easily succumb to the interpretation of more and more real-world information.”
Additionally, the introduction of Layer 1 price indices could shift blockchains from technically neutral platforms to explicitly financial tools. This, in turn, could lead to legal problems for blockchains, Buterin said.
Furthermore, it is not just price indices that pose risk. buterin wrote:
“Any The expansion of Ethereum consensus “shoulds” increases the costs, complexities, and risks of running a validator.”
