Ethereum Finality

What it is, how it currently works, why it takes ~12.8 mins, and the benefits of moving to single-slot finality solutions like Orbit SSF and how it works

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2/ How it works: Ethereum currently uses a system where validators vote on the blockchain state over two epochs (~12.8 mins) before finality is achieved

3/ Why so long? The process involves multiple rounds of voting across two epochs to include every validator's vote and reach a strong, secure consensus among thousands of validators. This ensures decentralization but takes time

4/ Why single-slot finality? Moving to single-slot finality would reduce finality time from ~12.8 mins to a few sec, enhancing user experience and enabling quicker, more efficient transactions

5/ Orbit SSF: A proposal to achieve single-slot finality by creating a stable core of large validators with significant stakes who always participate, providing consistent economic security with smaller validators rotating in and out

6/ Validator Selection: Validators are selected based on their stake size. Large stakeholders are always active, while smaller ones are selected proportionally to their stake

7/ Incentives for Consolidation: To ensure strong finality within a single slot, Orbit SSF includes mechanisms to encourage validators to consolidate their stake

8/ L2s often rely on Ethereum L1 for security. With single-slot finality, L2s can quickly inherit the security of L1, allowing transactions on L2 to be confirmed faster with the same level of trust as L1

Full Orbit SSF Proposal 👇
https://ethresear.ch/t/orbit-ssf-solo-staking-friendly-validator-set-management-for-ssf/19928

1/ Finality in Ethereum means a transaction is irreversibly part of the blockchain. Once finalized, it can't be changed or undone