PANews reported on January 21 that, according to The Block, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed a "native DVT staking" proposal, aiming to natively integrate Distributed Validator (DVT) technology into the Ethereum staking protocol to improve network security and promote decentralization. This proposal allows validators to register multiple independent keys, operating collectively as a single validator identity. Block proposals or validations are only considered valid when the number of participating entities reaches a set threshold, thus reducing the risk of validators going offline due to single node failure or damage. Unlike current DVT implementations that rely on complex external coordination layers, this scheme embeds the mechanism directly into the protocol layer. Validators holding at least multiple times the minimum staking requirement can specify up to 16 keys and signing thresholds, essentially with multiple standard nodes collaborating to act as a single validator identity.
Buterin points out that this design only adds one round of delay to block production, with no additional delay for verification, and is compatible with any signature scheme. In the long run, it can reduce reliance on potentially vulnerable cryptographic features. Besides technical simplification, he believes this will reduce the management difficulty of fault-tolerant staking, encouraging security-conscious individuals and institutions to stake independently rather than delegate to large service providers, thereby improving the decentralization of the Ethereum validator set. The proposal is currently still in the suggestion stage and requires extensive community review.


