Solana stake volume surpasses Ethereum, is the network security really higher?

Recently, there has been a viewpoint that due to the staking volume of Solana exceeding that of Ethereum, its network security has also surpassed that of Ethereum. However, this claim is somewhat misleading. Let's delve into this issue through some data.

Currently, the stake amount of Ethereum is approximately 34M ETH, valued at around $61 billion. Meanwhile, the stake amount of Solana is 388M SOL, valued at around $58.7 billion. From the data perspective, both have indeed reached similar levels. Considering that the PoS mechanism attack threshold for both networks is around 33%, on the surface, their theoretical attack difficulty seems comparable.

However, in practice, the difficulty of attacking Ethereum is much higher than that of Solana. This is mainly reflected in two aspects: node concentration and the maturity of the staking infrastructure.

Node Concentration

Assuming a hacker successfully infiltrates the data center of a mainstream cloud service provider and wants to control over 50% of the nodes in the Solana network, they would need to simultaneously control the top 43 nodes. Although it is difficult, it is not entirely impossible.

In contrast, a single node on Ethereum can stake a maximum of 32 ETH, so nearly 1.2 million nodes need to be controlled to achieve the same goal, which is almost an impossible task. Even considering that an entity may operate multiple nodes, the currently registered Ethereum node operators together account for only 47.5% of the total staking amount, far from reaching the 50% attack threshold.

Ethereum, as a public chain that has experienced early PoS attacks, has made adequate preparations to prevent such potential risks, such as encouraging retail investors to participate in stake. The staking threshold for Ethereum is relatively low at 32 ETH, while Solana has higher server requirements, with monthly operational costs being 5-10 times that of Ethereum. This means that retail investors on Solana need to stake at least 10,000 SOL to break even, and the yield may be lower than that of large staking service providers.

Maturity of Staking Infrastructure

Multiple staking infrastructure projects within the Ethereum ecosystem are continuously enhancing the security of the network. For instance, a well-known staking service requires node operators to reduce the use of mainstream cloud services and increase the proportion of niche data centers, while also encouraging support for diversified clients. In addition, 4% of the ETH is specifically allocated to support infrastructure projects such as Distributed Validator Technology (DVT).

DVT technology allows multiple entities to jointly manage a node, significantly increasing the reliability and security of the node. For example, a node can be co-managed by 4 people, requiring a 3/4 consensus to perform operations, so even if one node goes offline, the other nodes can promptly take over. More complex setups, such as managing by 10 people, can tolerate up to 3 nodes going offline.

It is worth noting that on most PoS chains, node downtime is also considered a form of "malicious" behavior. If 33% of the nodes go offline, the entire network could be paralyzed. Therefore, the importance of this infrastructure is self-evident.

Currently, the Solana ecosystem has not yet developed such a mature staking infrastructure.

Conclusion

Although the amount of stake in Solana is close to that of Ethereum, in terms of network security, Ethereum still has a slight edge due to differences in node centralization and the maturity of staking infrastructure. However, it is important to emphasize that this does not mean Solana is unsafe; both have very high security. The probability of successfully attacking either network is extremely low, with possible differences at the levels of 0.001% and 0.0001%, respectively.

With the continuous development of blockchain technology, we look forward to seeing more innovative security solutions emerge to further enhance the overall security of various networks.