Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Ethereum

A consensus mechanism used by Ethereum to secure its network and validate transactions.

What is Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Ethereum?

Proof-of-Stake (PoS) is the consensus mechanism implemented by Ethereum following The Merge in 2022, transitioning the network from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to PoS. In PoS, validators are chosen to create new blocks and confirm transactions based on the amount of Ether (ETH) they stake as collateral, rather than competing through computational power as in PoW. Validators lock up a minimum of 32 ETH in a staking contract to participate, and they are incentivized to act honestly through rewards and penalties, with the risk of losing their stake (slashing) for malicious behavior.

Ethereum’s PoS, specifically its Casper implementation, enhances energy efficiency, reducing the network’s energy consumption by approximately 99.95% compared to PoW, according to Ethereum Foundation estimates. It also aims to improve scalability and security while enabling features like sharding for future upgrades. Validators propose and attest to blocks in fixed time intervals called slots (12 seconds), grouped into epochs (32 slots, or ~6.4 minutes). The mechanism balances decentralization, as anyone with sufficient ETH can stake, with economic incentives to maintain network integrity.