Vitalik Buterin warns against overloading the Ethereum consensus layer

Buterin advocated keeping the Ethereum consensus minimal and not overloading validators with other things.

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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has published a lengthy blog post warning of the dangers of "stretching" Ethereum's consensus beyond its core functions of block validation and network security.

Ethereum consensus is the process by which blocks are validated by the proof-of-stake mechanism introduced in September 2022 with "the merger".

In a May 21 blog post titled “Don’t Overload Ethereum Consensus,” Buterin warned that using Ethereum’s network consensus for other things could lead to “high systemic risks for the ecosystem and should be discouraged and resisted".

The co-founder of Ethereum was essentially promoting the preservation of blockchain minimalism.

Do not overload Ethereum consensus: https://t.co/07tzyCrZcJ

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) May 21, 2023

Buterin noted that over the years a number of proposals or ideas have been circulating that suggest using Ethereum's social consensus for other purposes, such as price and data oracles. , redefining initiatives, and using Layer 1 soft forks to recover Tier 2 projects if they run into issues.

"There is a natural need to try to extend the blockchain core with more and more functionality because the blockchain core has the greatest economic weight and the largest community watching over it, but each such extension makes the kernel itself more fragile."< /p>

Buterin said that a certain subset of these techniques could lead to "high systemic risks" to the ecosystem, such as bugs or an intentional 51% attack...