Vitalik Buterin Gets Ready to Stake

Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sent some 3,200 eth, worth $1.5 million, to the deposit contract.

That means he will be one of the first stakers to validate on the new ethereum 2.0 Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain expected to launch on or around December the 1st.

So far 37,000 eth is ready to stake out of the 524,000 eth needed prior to December 1st for the genesis block to launch.

Meaning we’re not quite at 10% yet with Buterin presumably trying to increase confidence, but this 3.2k eth is around 1% of his eth holdings.

The Ethereum Foundation is expected to stake as well, but it’s not clear they would join so early as there are risks in regards to potential non-finality during the early days of the new blockchain.

In addition the eth itself would be locked for probably at least two years, making this a time based saving account, but with no exceptions in regards to urgent need.

So concerns have been raised whether this minimum of 500k eth would be met, but it’s difficult to see any way it won’t be met.

If this minimum is not met by December the first, then it is continuous. The genesis block launches seven days after the minimum is met, whenever that may be.

It’s too early to say whether it will be seven days before December the 1st, but we think it likely because 21% yearly interest in eth is a fairly big incentive.

However, eth’s price is rising and this locking up takes it out of the market. Raising complex calculations about bear and bull cycles over a period of at least two years but technically currently over an unknown period.

So it is a risky endeavor, especially as a pioneer staker, but there are plenty of projects that hold eth and plenty of individuals for whom 32 eth is 10% of their assets.

32 eth is currently worth $14,000. Quite a bit more than the circa $3,000 at the beginning of the year with the big question being how much it will be worth in two years.

As far as whether there will be a December launch however, the minimum will probably be met but just the minimum for at least 2-3 weeks after launch with Jan-Feb then bringing more clarity and thus perhaps the real opportunity to see just how staking and other factors interrelate.