Santiment Reveals 46.15% Of Ethereum’s PoS Nodes Are Controlled By Two Addresses

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Data from Santiment disclosed only two addresses contributed to over 45% of Ethereum’s PoS nodes, giving rise to concerns of centralization.

Following The Merge, Ethereum no longer relies on mining for network security and instead requires validators to stake their ETH tokens on the network to validate transactions and gain rewards. 

A few hours after the landmark update went live, data from Santiment revealed that only two addresses were responsible for 46.15% of these staking nodes. 

Santiment's tweet claimed that the first address contributed to 28.97% of Proof-of-Stake nodes and has validated 188 blocks, with the second one representing 16.18% of the nodes, having validated 105 blocks. The market analysis firm noted that the heavy dominance of the two addresses over the PoS nodes is “something to watch” as it increases the risk of centralization. 

However, a Twitter user countered Santiment’s statement by stating that the addresses may be flash bot relays that consist of several validators instead of just one person, with the relayer appearing a "single proposer of blocks" on the Ethereum network.

Moreover, Martin Köppelmann, Co-Founder of Gnosis, tweeted that two wallets belonged to staking platform Lido and crypto exchange Coinbase, with the firms controlling 27.50% and 14.50% of the stake respectively. He also claimed the fact that the top seven firms hold 67.5% of the stake was “disappointing.”

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Ayush Pande

As a tech enthusiast who's always on the prowl for the latest developments concerning crypto and hardware, you can find him covering news stories or tinkering with PCs.

Data from Santiment disclosed only two addresses contributed to over 45% of Ethereum’s PoS nodes, giving rise to concerns of centralization.

Following The Merge, Ethereum no longer relies on mining for network security and instead requires validators to stake their ETH tokens on the network to validate transactions and gain rewards. 

A few hours after the landmark update went live, data from Santiment revealed that only two addresses were responsible for 46.15% of these staking nodes. 

Santiment's tweet claimed that the first address contributed to 28.97% of Proof-of-Stake nodes and has validated 188 blocks, with the second one representing 16.18% of the nodes, having validated 105 blocks. The market analysis firm noted that the heavy dominance of the two addresses over the PoS nodes is “something to watch” as it increases the risk of centralization. 

However, a Twitter user countered Santiment’s statement by stating that the addresses may be flash bot relays that consist of several validators instead of just one person, with the relayer appearing a "single proposer of blocks" on the Ethereum network.

Moreover, Martin Köppelmann, Co-Founder of Gnosis, tweeted that two wallets belonged to staking platform Lido and crypto exchange Coinbase, with the firms controlling 27.50% and 14.50% of the stake respectively. He also claimed the fact that the top seven firms hold 67.5% of the stake was “disappointing.”

We’re glad you read to this point!

Every week, we publish an email newsletter highlighting all the juicy stories we covered in the crypto space, bringing all the major happenings to your doorstep.

So, if you want to have top stories delivered to your email inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter!

Written by
Ayush Pande