Ethereum Researchers Propose Reward Burn to Combat Excessive Staking

Ethereum researchers have proposed a draft Ethereum Improvement Proposal to curb excessive staking and prevent concentration among major providers. The proposal, co-authored by six researchers including Justin Drake, would see validator rewards burned as the network's staking ratio increases.

The burn would reach 100% once approximately 60.25 million ETH, or around half of Ethereum's supply, is staked, reducing net consensus-layer issuance for validator duties to zero.

Rather than providing a fixed yield at high staking levels, the proposal would introduce a tapered issuance burn, gradually destroying part of validator rewards as the network's staking ratio rises.