Share this article

Ethereum Developers Propose Raising Validator Limit to 2,048 Ether From 32 Ether

Low validator limits have led to waiting times of over one month, as of Monday.

Updated Jun 19, 2023, 12:19 p.m. Published Jun 19, 2023, 12:19 p.m.
Developers have proposed increasing the validator limit. (Getty)
Developers have proposed increasing the validator limit. (Getty)

A bump in waiting times and the sheer amount of interest in spinning up Ethereum validator nodes is making developers consider increasing the current limits drastically.

Developers have proposed raising the validator limit from 32 ether to 2,048 ether – a 6,300% rise. This has forced large entities, such as Lido or staking services offered by crypto exchanges, to spin up multiple validator nodes to offer staking yield services to users.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the The Protocol Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Developers said on an Ethereum core developer call on Thursday that the current limit led to a brisk expansion of the network’s validator set, albeit with a large increase in the number of validators running the network.

The proposal was first floated in early June by Ethereum developers Mike Neuder, Francesco D’Amato, Aditya Asgaonkar and Justin Drake. The proposal is still under debate and isn’t actively being worked on as of Monday.

Validators are entities in a proof-of-stake blockchain, such as Ethereum, that process transactions and help maintain the overall security of such networks.

Data shows the current waiting time for a user to run a validator node on Ethereum is 44 days, up from nearly a month in May. Exiting the network is possible within a few minutes, and no entity is in the “exit queue” as of Monday, the data shows.

The data indicates the demand for validators to enter the network and earn a nearly 5% annual yield. Such strong demand is likely stemming from large ether holders, who do not want to cash out and instead just want to earn some passive income on their holdings.

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

More For You

NFT Project Pudgy Penguins Takes Over Las Vegas Sphere in Holiday Campaign

Pudgy Penguins NFT are on a holiday rally. (Screenshot)

The NFT brand’s animated segments will air on the Sphere across Christmas week, signaling the crypto company's move into real-world consumer markets.

What to know:

  • Pudgy Penguins will run an ad campaign at the Las Vegas Sphere during Christmas week, one of the few crypto brands to secure a spot at the high-profile venue.
  • The NFT project, which launched on Ethereum in 2021, has expanded into physical toys and digital gaming as part of a broader consumer push.
  • Pudgy Penguins briefly overtook Bored Apes in floor price earlier this year and recently launched its PENGU token on Solana, now trading on major exchanges.