Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum can handle temporary loss of finality
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, stated that the network can tolerate temporary losses of finality without serious risk, even after a recent client bug nearly disrupted its confirmation mechanism. Buterin emphasized that while finalization indicates a block is irreversible, occasional delays of several hours due to bugs are acceptable. The critical issue to avoid is finalizing incorrect blocks.
Experts, including Fabrizio Romano Genovese, supported this view, noting that during such events, Ethereum operates similarly to Bitcoin, which relies on probabilistic finality. In Ethereum, finality is achieved when a block receives over 66% of validator votes and remains unchallenged for over two epochs (64 blocks). While this mechanism ensures deterministic finality, its temporary loss reverts the network to probabilistic guarantees, as seen in a May 2023 incident.
The loss of finality may impact infrastructure like bridges and layer-2 solutions, potentially delaying deposits or cross-chain transactions. However, users would not face transaction rollbacks or invalidations. Polygon confirmed that operations would continue normally, though transfers from Ethereum might be delayed until finality is restored. Genovese noted that developers choosing not to implement fallback mechanisms for finality loss bear responsibility for such delays.
cointelegraph12/10 11:55
