Ethereum core developers proposed increasing the maximum amount of staked ETH to become a validator from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH amid growing wait times in the activation queue.

In a developer call last week, Ethereum Foundation researchers proposed raising the validator staking limit to 2048 ETH per validator, while keeping the minimum amount required to stake ETH at 32 ETH. 

Ethereum developers Mike Neuder, Francesco D’Amato, Aditya Asgaonkar and Justin Drake first put forth the proposal earlier this month. Whether or not it will be implemented, is still up for debate.

The current limit to run a validator stands at 32 ETH, meaning that larger staking service providers like Lido have created numerous validator nodes to offer liquid staking solutions to users. Ultimately, this has resulted in a significant increase in the number of validators on the Ethereum network.

While a larger validator set arguably makes the network more decentralized, it has invariably made the entry queue to run a validator node considerably longer. Data shows that the current wait time in the activation queue is more than 44 days, up from a wait time of just under a month last month.

The activation queue peaked on 9 Jun with 96k Validators in the Pending Queue.

If the daily deposit is < then daily activation (2025
validators / 64800 $ETH), we will be seeing a reduction in the activation queue.

Despite the decline, the queue is still ~45 Days to activate https://t.co/3IZYpfLvC1 pic.twitter.com/qD29a60Roj

— Tom Wan (@tomwanhh) June 20, 2023

Still, critics of the proposal argued that the number of validators on the network would grow at a slower pace given the higher threshold required under the new proposal. 

According to Cyber Capital CIO Justin Bons, what matters for true decentralization should be the distribution of power as opposed to the number of nodes.

“This proposal only increases the maximum stake allowed on a single node. Not the minimum stake of 32 ETH, which stays the same… Avoiding the inefficient circus of singular parties running hundreds of nodes,” said Bons on Twitter.