Vitalik Buterin Proposes Faster Ethereum Transaction Confirmation Methods

• Vitalik Buterin proposes methods to reduce Ethereum’s 12.8-minute finality time for faster transaction confirmations.
• Single-Slot Finality aims to simplify Ethereum’s consensus process, enhancing transaction speed and network stability.
• Rollup and based preconfirmations offer quicker assurances by involving smaller validator groups and preconfirmation services.

Vitalik Buterin has released an article called “Epochs and Slots All the Way Down: Ways to Give Ethereum Users Faster Transaction Confirmation Times.” At present, Ethereum’s Gasper consensus mechanism employs a slot-and-epoch structure. This setup is intricate and results in a lengthy finality confirmation time of 12.8 minutes.

Current Consensus Mechanism

Ethereum’s Gasper consensus mechanism operates using slots and epochs. In this system, every 12-second slot involves a subset of validators publishing votes on the head of the chain. Over the course of 32 slots (6.4 minutes), all validators vote once. After two epochs (12.8 minutes), finality is achieved. However, this process is complicated and the long finality time is problematic for users.

Single-Slot Finality

One proposed solution is Single-Slot Finality (SSF), which simplifies the consensus process. SSF is inspired by Tendermint consensus and aims to finalize a block before the next block is generated. This approach retains the “inactivity leak” mechanism to ensure stability even if more than one-third of validators go offline. However, SSF requires each Ethereum staker to publish two messages every 12 seconds, posing a potential load issue.

Ethereum has been following a rollup-centric roadmap, focusing on layer 2 (L2) protocols to achieve higher scalability and faster confirmation times. Rollup preconfirmations involve a smaller group of validators signing off on blocks quickly, offering faster assurances to users. While centralized versions of this approach exist, decentralized sequencing networks are still developing.

Based Preconfirmations

Based preconfirmations suggest using sophisticated block proposers to offer preconfirmations-as-a-service. Users can pay an additional fee for an immediate guarantee that their transaction will be included in the next block. If proposers fail to meet their promises, they face penalties. This method provides quicker assurances for both L1 and L2 transactions.

Exploring New Designs

Buterin emphasizes the need to explore various slot-and-epoch designs to enhance the user experience. By reducing the number of validators per slot and improving node quality, Ethereum could potentially achieve faster transaction confirmation times. This ongoing exploration aims to balance decentralization, security, and speed to meet the needs of different applications.