Major Validators Join Testnet to Tackle Ethereum’s Overlooked Bottleneck

Major Ethereum validators controlling a significant share of the network's stake have begun testing OptimumP2P, a high-performance memory layer that could help address some of the network's limitations through its networking stack.

Kiln, P2P.org, Everstake, Blockdaemon, Infstones, Luganodes, and Ebunker are participating in the testnet for OptimumP2P, which has introduced a novel application of MIT-developed tech for Ethereum.

"The networking layer relies largely on traditional gossip approaches, which use a decentralized approach to propagate messages among nodes," Muriel Médard, Optimum co-founder and CEO, told Decrypt.

Médard is referring to "gossip" protocols in blockchain networks like Ethereum, where data such as new blocks, transactions, or blobs are shared through a peer-to-peer system.

This happens when a node sends data to a few connected peers, who then relay it to others, continuing the process until the message reaches the entire network.

"A careful trade-off between these two effects lies at the heart of traditional gossip algorithms," Médard said.

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The networking layer bottleneck

Despite ongoing improvements to its execution and consensus layers, Ethereum faces a constraint and bottleneck: its networking layer. The way data is propagated between nodes introduces latency and bandwidth waste, especially as data sizes grow.

Currently, Ethereum shares data across nodes using Gossipsub, a protocol built on top of libp2p. But this system sends the same message to many nodes multiple times, leading to inefficiencies and slower propagation.

"If people gossip with too many neighbors, then they often hear the same message, which is wasteful of their time," Médard explained. "If they do not gossip to enough neighbors, then they will not have enough chances to hear new messages."

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For Ethereum's bottleneck, OptimumP2P fixes the constraints by "making people gossip algebraic equations, not plain old gossip," Médard said. "The equations mean that you do not have to worry about old news; only new information is gossiped, in the form of equations."

Optimum utilizes a networking technology called Random Linear Network Coding, which combines multiple pieces of data into encoded packets.

Each packet contains just enough information so that, once a sufficient number of unique packets are received, the original data can be reconstructed, even if some packets are missing.

Initial testing reveals substantial performance improvements over the current system.

Results show 10 times lower latency under high-traffic conditions, stable performance with messages up to 10MB versus Gossipsub's 4MB limitation, and zero message loss under stress scenarios.

Combined, validators testing for OptimumP2P represent at least 14% of the total staking share across Ethereum, according to data from Rated Labs.

Optimum plans to deploy OptimumP2P on Ethereum's Hoodi testnet this summer, with potential expansion to other Layer 1 blockchains following initial implementation.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair