Question:

Ethereum recently switched to using a Proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus protocol. For more information on this switch, please see The Ethereum Organization.A new schema (`ethereum.beacon_chain`) was just released containing data around the Consensus Layer that can be used to analyze the Beacon Chain. Documentation for these tables can be found here.

Using the beacon_chain schema, analyze the decentralization of the PoS network, as well as slashings of proposers and attesters since the Merge.

Overview of analysis:

This analysis contains 3 parts as below:

• General stats related to the post merge

• Over time stats and distribution of Validators

• Assentation and slash analysis

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About Ethereum Merge:

The transition of the Ethereum network to Proof of Stake (PoS) or its new consensus mechanism for verifying cryptocurrency transactions is called The Merge.

Ethereum has chosen this strategy to decentralize and speed up the network, and since its inception, it has operated on the basis of a proof-of-work consensus. However, one of the main reasons for switching to Proof of Stake is that it is much more efficient than the Proof of Work algorithm.

About Beacon chain:

Beacon Chain is a blockchain that coordinates sharded chains, manages staking and records of validations in a proof-of-stake digital currency like Ethereum 2.0. Beacon chain is at the core of Ethereum 2.0. The registry stores and manages validations, and coordinates hash chains. China Beacon is responsible for storing validator details, awarding rewards to good validators and deducting Ethereum from bad validators. It also (randomly) selects a validation committee that votes to include or exclude proposed validation blocks and monitors their performance. In short, Beacon China enforces the rules established under the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.

Approach:

The data provided by Flipside has been used to handle this analysis.

• Used table:

  ethereum.beacon_chain provided by Flipside has been utilized to handle this analysis

• The useful metrics:

  • Created blocks
  • Validators, validator per day and cumulative validators
  • Deposited ETH and average deposited ETH per day
  • Distribution of Validators by amount of deposited ETH
  • Determine the attestation and targets
  • Finding slashed blocks over time

Part 1: General stats:

Part 2: Stats over time and validator distribution

Part 3: Validator distribution and slashings analysis

Findings:

• The highest count of targets happened on September 23 with 1551 targets and October 6 with 1534 targets.

• The daily attestation graph reveals that the count of attestations are between 750k and 800k over time.

Validators stake their cryptocurrencies within the network. The penalty in PoS blockchains for inactivity, dishonest validation, or any other malicious behavior is called the Slashing Penalty.

• The highest count of slashed blocks happened on September 23 with 16 slashed blocks.
• The total count of slashed blocks by Beacon chain is 21 blocks.

Findings:

• The highest volume of deposited ETH happened on September 23 by 1803 distinct validators.
• About 7.04k blocks have been created per day, averagely.
• The Median of deposited ETH is 32 and as can be seen the average deposited ETH was really close to median amount in the last days of analysis.
• The lowest average deposited ETH occurred on September 18, 2022 coincided with median of deposit 16 ETH.
• Most of the validators and deposited ETH (over 1.04 million ETH) belong to group that deposited 32 ETH.
• Most of the validators deposited only 1 time and about 2451 distinct validators deposited 2 times.

Conclusion:

• The Ethereum merge is one of the most important achievements in the world of cryptocurrencies and It can be said that Beacon Chain has been the most tangible update to the transition to PoS in recent years.
• Since merge, over 401k blocks have been created and total deposited ETH is about 1.127 million ETH and 35.3 distinct validators.
• The September 23 was the special day on post merge condition with highest deposited ETH and 16 blocks have been slashed.

Useful links:

• Ethereum Merge
• About Beacon Chain

Author:

Credited by MZG

Discord handle: m.zamani#0361

Twitter handle: @GargariZamani