The Ethereum ecosystem has seen only 226 validators since the launch of the Beacon Chain on December 1, 2020 – a mere 0.04% of the 524,060 validators, according to Ethereum’s lead developer.
Slashing is a process where a validator violates the proof-of-stake consensus rules, which often results in that validator being removed from the network and chopping some of the staked ether (ETH), which the validator provided as collateral.
So little chance they would be cut highlighted from Ethereum core developer “Superphiz” in a Twitter post on February 23, suggesting that people shouldn’t be concerned about staking ETH for this particular reason.
226 of the 523,000 validators in the beacon chain were broken. This is nothing to lose sleep over. Many hacks occurred during the failed system migration. Here are four new best practice tips to avoid this:https://t.co/wleR4YQmDD
– superphiz.eth (@superphiz) February 22, 2023
The developer also explained “four emerging best practices” to further reduce those chances.
One of those procedures was to wipe all existing string data on old stakers and reinstall and reformat the validator if necessary, Superphiz said, noting that many chops occur due to “failed system migrations.”
Superphiz then suggested using “doppelganger detection” to check if validator keys are active before starting the validation process.
While this may have an impact on validator uptime, he explained that “perfect uptime” isn’t worth the hassle in the grand scheme of things:
“It makes sense to throw away $0.06 and save $1,700. (Chopping costs about 1 Ether).
The developer said it’s also worth monitoring the buffers and logs on the Beacon Chain to be aware of any potential issues that may arise.
If something doesn’t seem right, Superphiz suggested “unplug everything” and “come back” when the problem is identified and a solution suggested.
The developer also noted that more than 150 of the 226 hacks were caused by services rather than “home stackers”.
According to the Ethereum Foundation, hacking can occur due to “attestation” or “draft” violations.
An attestation violation is one where a malicious validator attempts to alter the history of a block or “double vote” by validating two candidates for the same block.
A design violation occurs when a validator designs and signs two different blocks for the same slot.
Most hacking cases stem from certification violations, according to to data from beaconcha.in.
One of the largest staking events occurred on February 4, 2021, when staking infrastructure provider “Staked” 75 of its validators have decreased due to the production of rival blocks. Staked said the attestation breach occurred due to a “technical issue”.
Related: What are the risks of an Ethereum merger?
Since The Beacon Chain has merged with the Ethereum proof-of-work chain On September 15, only 35 out of a total of 226 hacks occurred, according to beaconcha.in, indicating that The merger did not have a major impact on rate cuts.
With approximately 16.7 million ETH staked (according to beaconcha.in) out of the 120.4 million ETH currently in circulation (according to on CoinGecko), the percentage of ETH staked is about 13.9%.
ETH can be staked through a centralized exchangeby delegating to a third party validator network or running on an independent node that requires 32 ETH.
