Possible futures of the Ethereum protocol, part 1: The Merge
Originally, "the Merge" referred to the most important event in the Ethereum protocol's history since its launch: the long-awaited and hard-earned transition from proof of work to proof of stake. Today, Ethereum has been a stably running proof of stake system for almost exactly two years, and this proof of stake has performed remarkably well in stability, performance and avoiding centralization risks. However, there still remain some important areas in which proof of stake needs to improve.
My roadmap diagram from 2023 separated this out into buckets: improving technical features such as stability, performance, and accessibility to smaller validators, and economic changes to address centralization risks. The former got to take over the heading for "the Merge", and the latter became part of "the Scourge".
This post will focus on the "Merge" part: what can still be improved in the technical design of proof of stake, and what are some paths to getting there?
