In September 2022, Ethereum transitioned from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) during "the merge" - making it the largest PoS cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. With this work, we present a comprehensive measurement study of the current state of the Ethereum PoS consensus layer on the beacon chain. We perform a longitudinal study of the history of the beacon chain. Our work finds that all dips in network participation are caused by network upgrades, issues with major consensus clients, or issues with service operators controlling a large number of validators. Further, our longitudinal staking power decentralization analysis reveals that Ethereum PoS fairs similarly to its PoW counterpart in terms of decentralization and exhibits the immense impact of (liquid) staking services on staking power decentralization. Finally, we highlight the heightened security concerns in Ethereum PoS caused by high degrees of centralization.

翻译：2022年9月，以太坊通过"合并"从工作量证明（PoW）过渡到权益证明（PoS），成为市值最大的PoS加密货币。本研究对以太坊PoS共识层在信标链上的当前状态进行了全面测量分析。我们对信标链的历史进行了纵向研究，发现所有网络参与度的下降均由网络升级、主要共识客户端问题或控制大量验证者的服务运营商问题所导致。此外，纵向质押权力去中心化分析表明，以太坊PoS在去中心化程度方面与PoW版本表现相似，同时揭示了（流动）质押服务对质押权力去中心化的巨大影响。最后，我们强调了高度中心化导致以太坊PoS面临加剧的安全隐患。