Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin released a proposal or pull request on Saturday that will support applications used by nodes to interact with Ethereum’s Beacon Chain, which manages consensus and staking and integrates the protocol’s execution layer into a single code structure to simplify node setup.
Ethereum node runners, also called validators, currently have to run two separate programs, each of which requires installation and coordination to coordinate and communicate the data produced by Ethereum’s consensus and execution layers.
This increases the technical complexity of running a node or providing authentication services for the Ethereum network, preventing ordinary users from managing their own infrastructure and forcing them to rely on third-party service providers.
“I feel like, at all levels, we’ve implicitly decided that running a node is a terrible DevOps task that should be left to the professionals,” Buterin said in a post on X. He continued:
“It’s not. We need to take it back. Running your own Ethereum infrastructure should be a basic right for every individual and household. ‘Hardware requirements are high, so the skill and time requirements for DevOps should be high,’ is not an excuse.”
Even those who can afford high-end computing hardware to create an Ethereum node and have the technical expertise usually don’t have the time to set them up, Buterin said, adding that “nodes should be easy.”
The Ethereum network and other smart contract blockchains have been plagued by technical complexity and hardware requirements for node management, which has raised central concerns about these networks as well.
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Buterin offers partially stateless nodes to further decentralize the network
In May 2025, Buterin proposed partially stateless nodes that do not store the full block history and only store the information required by the node runner.
This reduces hardware costs and data storage requirements for users who manage nodes for personal purposes, such as sending transactions and verifying the blockchain.
According to Go-Ethereum (GETH), disk space is usually the main bottleneck for node operators. Smart contract blockchain networks, such as Ethereum, generate large amounts of data that require ever-increasing storage space, making specialized node hardware a necessity.
“A market structure dominated by a few remote procedure call (RPC) providers is one that will face strong pressure to deplatform or censor users. Many RPC providers already exclude entire countries,” Buterin wrote.
In late January, Buterin said he had allocated 16,384 Ether, worth about $45 million, of his personal assets to support privacy protection technologies, open hardware and verifiable software. He added that the funds will be phased in over the coming years as the Ethereum Foundation enters a period of what he describes as “gentle austerity” and continues to track its technical roadmap.
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