Ethereum faces bandwidth and centralization risks from surging validator growth

Ethereum's active validator count has risen 74% since the Shapella upgrade, causing bandwidth and centralization concerns according to Fidelity Digital Assets.

More validators normally signals increased adoption, but unpredictable future staking demand makes technical capacity hard to plan.

Bandwidth and latency issues arise from validators independently having to download and verify data within a small time frame.

Each new validator adds connections, increasing overall bandwidth needs to maintain consensus.

Slower home validators may drop out, leaving only fast institutional validators and risking centralization.