Ethereum 2.0 reaches a new milestone regarding the number of validators and ethers deposited, an important landmark as the second-largest blockchain migrates to the Proof of Stake consensus algorithm.
In Short
The role of validators is central in the new version of the network.
ETH deposits from new validators lead to new records in this contract.
As Ethereum transits its way to its new version, some important milestones are being reached that lead to it taking hold. Last Sunday, February 27, the number of validators reached 300,000, its all-time high, and deposited funds already exceeded 9.6 million ethers (ETH).
According to statistics reflected on the Beaconcha.in site, the number of current Ethereum 2.0 validators is 300,500. The 300,000 validator milestone was reached less than 24 hours ago when writing this article.
Since its launch in December 2020, Beacon Chain (the first shard of 64 that the new blockchain will have) has already had 21,000 validators. By December 2021, that number was already at 270,000; this equates to a 1,100% growth in one year. Two months later, it grew another 10% to over 300,000.
Far from being just a number, this figure indicates the Ethereum network is growing and becoming more secure. Validators are in charge of confirming new blocks in the so-called consensus layer, i.e., Ethereum 2.0. Their role is fundamental to the functioning of this consensus algorithm, called Proof of Stake (PoS).
The new version of this blockchain will no longer work with miners like the current one but will rely on validators who must have at least 32 ETH in staking (equivalent to $85,000) to confirm new blocks.
While this increase in the number of validators is noteworthy for the network, it is also important that other conditions, such as decentralization, are met. Recently, some sites saw high centralization in Ethereum 2.0 due to many stake pools using the same client, Prysm, for their nodes. Coinbase, one of the pools with the most validators, dismissed this alert and assured that it further diversifies the clients it works with.
Deposits in Ethereum 2.0, also at record highs
Just as the number of validators grew, so too have the ethers deposited in the new consensus layer smart contract reached an all-time high. There was more than 9,646,000 ETH deposited in it, according to etherscan.io, representing 8.15% of the total stock of the cryptocurrency in circulation.
Users added 170,528 ETH to this Smart Contract in the last ten days. From the chart below, the number is three times higher than that recorded on the same day (February 28) in 2021.
Of course, such a milestone directly relates to the rise in the number of validators. As detailed, each must have 32 ETH to validate new blocks on the chain, so both figures are directly related.