Vitalik Buterin defends long ETH unstaking period as necessary for network security

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has defended the network's lengthy unstaking period of approximately 45 days, calling it a necessary measure to protect the network, Cointelegraph reported. His comments come in response to criticism from some in the crypto community who noted that other networks, such as Solana (SOL), have much shorter unstaking periods of just two days. Buterin compared the process to soldiers leaving the military, explaining that an army cannot function properly if its members can depart suddenly at any time. He acknowledged that the current waiting period may not be optimal but warned that simply shortening it would threaten the network's reliability. Currently, the Ethereum network has over one million active validators, with approximately 35.6 million ETH, or about 30% of the total supply, staked.