Vitalik Buterin Continues to Advocate for Shorter Block Times on Ethereum at EthCC Conference

Vitalik Buterin Continues to Advocate for Shorter Block Times on Ethereum at EthCC Conference. Image: @therollupco on X (Twitter)

At the EthCC conference held in Belgium, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin reiterated the importance of reducing block validation times on the blockchain.

During a panel discussion on Pre-Confirmations ("Soft Validation" model), Vitalik Buterin emphasized the benefits of faster Slot (equivalent to Block) validation times.

Specifically, he highlighted that the Pre-Confirmations model on Layer-2 solutions represents a significant advancement for the Ethereum ecosystem in general, with validations taking approximately 1 second compared to traditional Ethereum validation times (pre-EIP-1559 upgrade), which could take 10-13 minutes.

Despite improvements in speed, the Layer-2 Soft Validation model still exposes certain limitations. Therefore, Vitalik Buterin suggested the need for alternative approaches that do not compromise decentralization aspects.

Additionally, Vitalik also introduced a Medium-strength Assurance approach instead of Finality, acknowledging that while Finality offers slightly higher security, the Medium-strength Assurance allows for faster transaction confirmations with acceptable security levels.

Approaches to achieve shorter Confirmation times for users include:

• An independent Soft Validation system on Layer-2
• Soft validation mechanism through a Layer-1 Proposer
• Shortening slot validation times on Layer-1

Both approaches Vitalik Buterin discussed have their respective limitations. For Layer-2, significant workload and time are required to effectively implement an optimal Pre-Confirmations model. Conversely, delegating Confirmation roles to Proposers increases dependency on these entities, potentially leading to transaction censorship and impacting network decentralization.

Due to these barriers, Vitalik argued that Layer-1 needs shorter Slot validation times to relieve some of the speed pressures handled by Layer-2. Moreover, shorter Slot validation times could potentially eliminate less secure Layer-2 models, redistributing transaction confirmation time pressures back to Layer-1.

This isn't the first time Vitalik has voiced support for implementing a "Single-slot Finality" model to shorten Confirmation times on Ethereum. Just last week, he introduced the "slot-and-epoch" model, proposing a balanced distribution of speed pressures across network Layers.

It is evident that recent criticisms of many Layer-2 solutions regarding security risks have prompted Ethereum developers to swiftly deploy new solutions to ensure high-speed validations while maintaining decentralization.