Vitalik Buterin Advocates for Lowering Ethereum Staking Threshold

Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has called for changes to the current staking requirements in an effort to encourage more solo stakers on the network.

Speaking in an October 3 community discussion, Buterin supported the idea of lowering the minimum Ether needed for solo staking, which currently stands at 32 ETH—a barrier for many individual investors.

Buterin had previously stressed the importance of solo stakers for Ethereum’s decentralization and security during the Ethereum Singapore 2024 event. He pointed out that even a small number of independent stakers could provide a crucial layer of defense against potential threats like 51% attacks.

In his recent interactions with the community, Buterin proposed a temporary solution: increasing the bandwidth requirement while lowering the staking deposit to 16 or 24 ETH. However, he acknowledged potential challenges for home networks. Eventually, Buterin aims to drop the solo staking threshold to just 1 ETH, making it accessible to more participants.

This proposal comes alongside his broader push for more accountability in the Ethereum ecosystem, as he recently criticized certain projects claiming to be layer-2 solutions without meeting proper technical standards.