Liquid staking protocol Lido has launched Curated Module v2, an infrastructure upgrade that could lower Ethereum’s validator count by approximately one-third through higher effective balances and revised operator rules. The change is intended to improve validator efficiency and network decentralization.

The module adds support for Ethereum’s 0x02 withdrawal credentials. Validators may raise their effective balance from 32 ETH to a maximum of 2,048 ETH. Lido projects that the migration could reduce the total number of validators from 880,000 to about 628,000. The process has not yet begun and the estimates remain provisional.

Fewer validators and associated messages are expected to lighten the load on the consensus layer. Execution-layer activity that governs transaction fees and gas costs will remain unaffected. The upgrade also establishes bonding and penalty mechanisms to increase accountability among node operators. Future allocation of stake may give greater consideration to operator performance, fee structures and contributions to the Ethereum ecosystem.

Stakers are not required to take any action, as the adjustments will be implemented at the protocol level.