steviep
@steviep
Does anyone have a good explanation on why Solana is more centralized than Ethereum? I can't tell if that's true, or just a meme (like how Bitcoin is more decentralized than Ethereum)
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nicole
@nicole
Tangentially related, I posted a video explaining why proof of work networks are inherently more decentralized than proof of stake (eth started as proof of work) https://warpcast.com/nicole/0x0e3f9d1c
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steviep
@steviep
I never really bought this argument. Sure, you need money to buy the staking currency, but you also need money to buy or manufacture chips. What you're saying might make more sense for making sure a network is decentralized when it starts, but we're way beyond that. I don't care how decentralized these networks were 10 years ago
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nicole
@nicole
Whether or not you buy this argument, bitcoin and ethereum are objectively significantly more decentralized than solana and proof of stake as a system compounds wealth with little incentive to decentralize it. The block building mechanism is also more centralized on solana, they optimize for speed over decentralization
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steviep
@steviep
I'm very aware that people keep saying this, but I'm trying to learn why. Are there reasons, or is it just vibes? People also say bitcoin is more decentralized, but it's pretty clear that the network's hash power is consolidating way faster then Ethereum's validating resources
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nicole
@nicole
Yes that’s true, i think switching from PoW to PoS was the right solution. Bitcoin is more economically centralized but it’s pretty easy to run your own full node, though there’s no direct financial incentive to do so. Solana is less decentralized primarily because it has fewer validators confirming transactions (under 2k) due to expensive hardware and bandwidth requirements. Ethereum in comparison has 800k + active validators and validator client diversity. Solana relies primarily on a single validator client that was created and maintained by the solana foundation. From what I understand there is a push for solana to become more efficient and enable lighter clients / more accessible validator setups, but there’s always going to be a balance between being extremely high throughput/ high speed (requiring expensive validator setups) vs openness and decentralization which makes things slower.
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steviep
@steviep
I know that Solana has way fewer nodes due to the cost constraints of running them, but that's not the only measure of decentralization. Also, 800k for Ethereum sounds high. I think that might be the number of validator slots staking 32 ETH? The number we care about might be closer to 10k according to https://ethernodes.org/
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nicole
@nicole
Yes I that is what I meant for the 800k figure. What are the other measures of decentralization you’re thinking of?
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steviep
@steviep
Well, if I'm running 600k of the 800k validators, then the network isn't very decentralized 🙂 I'd say number of unique consensus nodes + the staking concentration is probably a step in the right direction
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