Buterin proposes plan to curb Ethereum block builder centralization

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed an idea to prevent excessive centralization in block building, the process of gathering transactions before they are finalized on-chain. According to CoinDesk, while the upcoming Ethereum upgrade, Glamsterdam, is set to formalize the separation of proposers and block builders, Buterin argued that simply creating a market for block builders will not solve all the associated problems. He suggested an idea called FOCIL, which would act as a form of censorship resistance. The proposal involves a small, randomly selected group of participants choosing transactions that must be included in the next block. If any of these designated transactions are omitted, the block would be rejected. This idea aims to ensure that even if a single malicious block builder were to dominate the market, they could not permanently exclude specific users.