Ethereum

45% of Ethereum Nodes Post-Merge Run by Only Two Addresses, Posing Centralization Risks

09/15/2022
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Is Ethereum Decentralized After Merge?

Data from Santiment indicates that over 45% of the Ethereum nodes run so far following The Merge are attributed to only two addresses which arouse new centralization concerns.

The Ethereum and broader crypto community have been anticipating The Merge since its announcement. Several proponents within the space have dubbed it the most revolutionary event in the crypto space for a while due to the immense transformation it brings to the Ethereum blockchain.

Notwithstanding, Ethereum’s transition to Proof-of-Stake might not be without fundamental issues, as Santiment data arouses some fresh centralization worries.

Crypto data feed and analytics platform Santiment took to Twitter to share a shot of its “Ethereum Post Merge Inflation” dashboard on Thursday, a few hours after The Merge happened. Interestingly enough, according to information from the shot, over 45% of all nodes run on the Ethereum PoS chain so far are attributed to just two addresses.

“This heavy dominance by these addresses is something to watch.”

 

The first address has a share of 28.97%, contributing to the validation of up to 188 blocks alone. Additionally, the second address has validated 105 blocks, taking a large chunk of 16.18% contribution. Both these addresses have cumulatively validated 293 blocks, representing a share of up to 45.15% of all validated blocks.

“This heavy dominance by these addresses is something to watch,” the Santiment handle added, as the hegemony of the two addresses appears to confirm previous allegations of a prospective centralized state for Ethereum in the event of a switch to PoS.

As a response to the tweet from Santiment, a proponent who goes “Soroush” alleged that both addresses could belong to the Ethereum Foundation and American multinational investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. She noted that her assertions have been proven right after six years. “Ethereum is the biggest lie and fraud in the history of blockchain and investment,” she added.

According to Martin, the top seven entities controlling over 2/3 of the stake is disappointing.

 

Pre-Merge, there had been several concerns of a centralization issue arising from Ethereum’s switch to PoS. Several Bitcoin maximalists and other crypto proponents have brought up claims about this centralization issue from different directions. Notwithstanding, the Ethereum team has debunked these claims each time.

Co-founder of Web3 storage infrastructure, Maggie Love, shared a disturbing discovery about Ethereum nodes last month. Taking to Twitter, Love shared a shot indicating that most Ethereum nodes are run on centralized providers. Additionally, it appears Amazon Web Services (AWS) dominates in this sphere, contributing a 52.1% share, with 1,442 nodes then.

Speaking on this, Love noted, “Ethereum cannot be decentralized if the stack is not decentralized… ” Besides AWS, Hetzner Online GmbH has 467 nodes, with a contribution of 16.9%. 

 

Furthermore, there have also been concerns about Ethereum being centralized due to the fact that liquid staking service, Lido accounts for over 31% share of all staked ETH. This has further raised concerns about the Ethereum blockchain being more vulnerable to censorship as a PoS chain.

 

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Source: https://thecryptobasic.com/2022/09/15/45-of-ethereum-nodes-post-merge-run-by-only-two-addresses-so-far-posing-centralization-risks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=45-of-ethereum-nodes-post-merge-run-by-only-two-addresses-so-far-posing-centralization-risks