A new proposal from Vitalik Buterin himself, co-founder of Ethereum, is ushering in a new era for the world's second-largest blockchain network: making it easier and cheaper to run a node than ever before. If successful, ordinary users could run an Ethereum node right on their laptop or personal phone – something that was once considered impossible.
Issue: There are currently too few people capable of running nodes.
Currently, to operate a full node on Ethereum, users must store over 1.3 terabytes of data – a number far beyond the capabilities of most common devices. This forces most users to rely on large node service providers like Infura or Alchemy, raising concerns about centralization, censorship, and privacy invasion.
Vitalik wrote on the Ethereum research blog: "We need to encourage personal node operation to reduce dependence on intermediaries – entities that can be compelled to censor or exclude users."
Solution: The 'local data priority' model.
Instead of requiring each node to store the entire blockchain data, the new proposal allows nodes to only store the data relevant to the user's needs, while historical data (over 36 days) will be distributed and accessed as needed.
Think of it like a digital library: you don't need to hold all the books, just borrow them when needed – as long as data integrity is maintained.
This significantly reduces hardware costs while still maintaining core benefits: decentralization, privacy protection, and censorship resistance.
In line with the long-term roadmap and the Pectra upgrade.
The new model perfectly aligns with Ethereum's long-term vision: putting full nodes in the hands of ordinary users, including mobile devices. This is also part of the upgrade plan 'Pectra' – considered the most ambitious update of Ethereum to date.
Michael Cameron, co-founder of Vanilla Finance, commented: "This proposal is like a breath of fresh air, as current technologies, while powerful, are resource-intensive and susceptible to metadata exploitation."
Challenges ahead: It's not easy to realize.
However, there are barriers. The new system requires complex mechanisms to select the appropriate state, ensure safe fallback, and a sufficiently large network of nodes to ensure data is always available when needed.
Experts like Ryan Yoon (Tiger Research) warn that: "A serious evaluation process is needed to implement this model. Without enough nodes participating, data may not be ready – and the system will lose its effectiveness."
Despite many challenges, the vision of transforming Ethereum into a truly decentralized network – where everyone can easily operate a node – is a worthy goal to pursue. If successful, this would be a significant step towards expanding Ethereum to billions of potential users worldwide.
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The new proposal could significantly impact Binance users and DeFi investors, as easier access to running nodes would strengthen decentralization, reducing the risk of dependence on intermediary service providers – an important factor for decentralized finance (DeFi) users today.
Risk warning: The cryptocurrency market remains volatile and carries technological risks. Every investment decision should be carefully considered, and you should be well-informed before participating.