Ethereum developers plan to increase the maximum validator balance from the current 32 ETH to two thousand 48 ETH per validator.
Discussed during the latest Ethereum core developer consensus meeting, this proposal will replace the increase in the maximum validator limit, while the minimum limit will remain at 32 ETH. Currently, Ethereum validators are subject to a balance limit set at both a minimum and a maximum of 32 ETH. This forces those who want to earn a larger return on large-scale staking to create multiple validators.
Michael Neuder Speaks About Proposed Change
Currently, there are 600,000 active validators on the Ethereum network and 90,000 additional validators waiting to be activated in the queue.
Michael Neuder, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation and one of the key advocates of the proposed change, made statements about the proposal during the developer meeting held on June 16. Neuder said that while the current validator cap encourages decentralization, it inadvertently leads to inflation on the validator group. Neuder explained that raising the cap could slow its expansion on the active validator group and increase the efficiency of the network in terms of reaching certainty.
According to Neuder, the proposed increased cap will also bring the possibility of automatically pooling validator rewards.
If the cap is removed and raised, these rewards can be combined immediately, providing validators with an effective means to earn more from the ETH they stake. Additionally, the proposal will allegedly address the operational concerns of larger node operators, including exchanges like Coinbase, which currently have tens of thousands of validators due to the 32 ETH limit available per validator.