New Ethereum Proposal Suggests Validators Allocate Up to 10% of Staking Rewards for Ecosystem Funding

On June 22, a new proposal emerged in the ongoing long-term debate regarding ecosystem funding for Ethereum: it requires validators, who safeguard this leading global smart contract blockchain, to bear more of the network's public expenses. This proposal, published on the Ethereum research forum, introduces a reward redistribution mechanism for validators, which is a foundational protocol mechanism allowing network node operators to allocate a portion of their staking rewards for ecosystem funding, with a redistribution range of 0% to 10% of staking rewards. Validators can voluntarily express how much of their rewards they are willing to redistribute. If a majority of validators support a redistribution percentage greater than 0%, that percentage will be enforced for all validators. The proposal aims to address Ethereum's 'free-rider' problem: many projects benefit from Ethereum's public infrastructure, security research, technical tools, and public resources without bearing the corresponding costs. If everyone can freely enjoy these resources without any party willing to shoulder the entire expense, it will ultimately lead to a shortage of public funding, relying solely on the Ethereum Foundation, donors, or a few dedicated teams for support. Validators secure the operation of the Ethereum network by staking ETH, validating transactions, and earning staking rewards. The 'funding' referred to in the proposal means paying for public affairs that Ethereum relies on for survival, including developer tools, security research, public infrastructure, and various empowering projects that may not necessarily have direct profit models. The proposal hopes to shift the burden of public spending onto the validator community — they earn ETH rewards by maintaining the network, and as the overall value of Ethereum increases, they can also benefit. The proposal states that validators are natural long-term stakeholders: sufficient ecosystem funding can enhance network activity, increase the amount of ETH burned, and thereby elevate the value of staked ETH.