Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed lowering minimum deposit requirements for blockchain network players.
In an October 3 post on X, Buterin expressed support for reducing the current 32 ETH threshold needed to stake on the network to support solo staking. He believes that current requirements are for many a barrier to entry rather than a necessity based on bandwidth.
Buterin suggested lowering the minimum deposit to 16 or 24 ETH, with a corresponding increase in bandwidth requirements. He declared:
“I think there is a sensible version of this where we recognize that 32 ETH is much more of a barrier than the bandwidth requirements, and temporarily do a swap where we raise the bandwidth requirements a little bit and, by exchange, let’s reduce the wagering deposit minimum, for example. 16 or 24 ETH.
Buterin explained that reducing the minimum deposit would help expand Ethereum’s staking program and make it more accessible to solo stakers.
He also mentioned that in the future this requirement could further drop to 1 ETH, depending on advancements such as OrbitSSF. Likewise, bandwidth demands would significantly decrease with the full deployment of PeerDAS, a feature designed to improve sampling of data availability on the blockchain network.
The Ethereum co-founder’s comments highlight the importance of individual players for the security and decentralization of the blockchain network. Solo stakers operate full nodes on private computers without relying on third-party staking platforms or pools.
However, high deposit requirements for staking have deterred wider participation, limiting the number of solo bettors. On-chain data shows that almost 48% of Ethereum staking is controlled by 11 staking providers, with Lido alone handling a significant 24%.
This heavy concentration has sparked concerns within the community about the dangers of centralization, prompting Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano to highlight the importance of solo staking as “the very heart of Ethereum.”
He added:
“Without solo staking (and without the ability to run full nodes at home!), we lose the one thing of real value in this entire ecosystem: true decentralization.”
