Should Ethereum change? Vitalik proposes native DVT to be written into the protocol layer—can validator security and decentralization achieve a win-win?

【Blockchain Rhythm】 Recently, Vitalik shared an interesting idea on the Ethereum research forum—integrating DVT (Distributed Validator Technology) directly into the protocol. This isn’t a minor tweak but a significant rearchitecture of the validator layer.

The core concept is actually simple: allowing validators to register multiple independent keys simultaneously. A set of keys must collectively meet a predefined threshold to sign off on block proposals or attestations. The immediate benefit of this approach is to prevent single points of failure—if one node goes offline, the entire validator set can still operate normally, greatly reducing downtime risk. Even more impressive, this mechanism can be compatible with existing penalty systems without major modifications.

Compared to current third-party DVT solutions, Vitalik’s native approach has a fundamental difference: it is supported directly at the protocol layer, eliminating reliance on external coordination layers and simplifying deployment complexity. Validators holding multiple 32 ETH (the minimum staking threshold) can have up to 16 keys, effectively bundling multiple standard nodes into a single validator identity, offering high flexibility.

In terms of performance, there’s no significant additional burden—just an extra block proposal delay, and the attestation process remains unaffected. Moreover, this scheme is compatible with various signature algorithms, which could reduce dependence on certain cryptographic assumptions that might carry risks in the long run.

From a decentralization perspective, this design makes it easier for small retail users and mid-sized institutions to operate and fault-tolerantly participate in staking independently, without relying solely on large staking service providers. This could practically help improve Ethereum validator decentralization metrics (like the Nakamoto coefficient).

Of course, this is still in the initial discussion phase, requiring community evaluation and consensus before further development. But this idea indeed hits the pain points of the current Ethereum validator ecosystem.