Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, made new evaluations about the planned block creation improvements in the network. Buterin stated that the proposed innovations try to make block production on the network more transparent and distributed, but the risk of centralization may not completely disappear and may shift to different areas.
New Approaches and ePBS Development
Buterin stated that in the Glamsterdam update, which Ethereum aims to implement in the coming period, the ‘enhrined Proposer-Builder Separation’ (ePBS) mechanism will be introduced, which separates block producers and proposers. Thanks to this method, block proposers will be able to transfer the work of creating blocks to a decentralized block producer market. The aim is to prevent the concentration that may arise in block producers from causing the centralization of validators in Ethereum.
According to Buterin, ePBS alone does not prevent block producers from acting centrally; It only separates block proposers and producers. This distinction is seen as an important element in Ethereum’s security architecture that will shape possible risks in the coming years.
To support decentralization, another approach called FOCIL (Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists) is on the agenda. The FOCIL model gives 16 randomly selected validators for blocks the right to choose transactions that must be included in the block. If these transactions are not found in the block, they are rejected by the blockchain network. Thus, even if block production is completely monopolized, some transactions are still passed through the system.
Buterin stated that Big FOCIL, which is a more ambitious version, can be expanded to cover all transactions, and participants can avoid conflicting transactions by assuming different sender addresses.
MEV, Encrypted Pools and Privacy Layers
Buterin also drew attention to the on-chain advantage-based transactions called “toxic MEV” that the block production chain faces. This type of transactions wraps users’ transactions and allows them to be prevented by those in a more advantageous position (front-running, sandwich), harming the end user.
Buterin pointed out that encrypted pools, which recommend that transactions remain encrypted until they are included in the block, can prevent advantageous position taking by preventing early information disclosure. However, it was emphasized that the technological infrastructure that will enable transactions to be verified and resolved at the right moment is still under development.
Buterin also touched on the transaction transport layer, which is often overlooked in MEV discussions. Although this path from the user wallet to the block is off-chain, transactions can be monitored and manipulated by rival actors before they are sent to the network. Buterin stated that at this point, low-latency solutions such as routing over the Tor protocol, Ethereum-specific anonymous mixers and Flashnet are applicable. It was added that the Kohaku initiative aims to provide flexible support for such network-based and on-chain privacy protocols.
Distributed Block Creation and Long Term Plans
Vitalik Buterin predicts that the Ethereum network will have a more distributed block creation architecture similar to BitTorrent in the long term. In systems such as BitTorrent, no node carries all the data alone and transactions are carried out in a largely distributed manner.
However, Buterin noted that Ethereum’s synchronized public state mechanism, where each transaction is potentially dependent on the other, makes this distribution technically difficult. Still, he added, a significant portion of transactions do not require full global status, and cheaper, limited transaction types can be designed for them. Thus, while today’s transaction types become more expensive, the way is opened for new categories that will increase distributed production.
Buterin stated that these ideas are still in the draft stage and there is no clear timetable or definitive implementation framework. However, in the long term, Ethereum aims to move its block architecture to a modular and distributed structure to reduce the weight of a single actor in the block creation process.
