Vitalik publishes on the future development of the Ethereum protocol (Part 3: The Scourge). Vitalik believes that one of the biggest risks facing Ethereum L1 is the centralization of proof-of-stake due to economic pressure. If there is an economy of scale in participating in the core proof-of-stake mechanism, this will naturally lead to the dominance of large stake holders and the withdrawal of small stake holders from joining large pools. This leads to a higher risk of 51% attacks, transaction censorship, and other crises. In addition to the risk of centralization, there is also the risk of value extraction: a small group of people capturing value that would otherwise go to Ethereum users. Key objectives for addressing risk: Minimize the risk of centralization in the Ethereum staking layer (especially in terms of block building and capital provision, i.e. MEV and staking pools). Minimize the risk of over-extracting value from users.