[The head of the ETH team said that most ETH customers are "very active" in deleting old data]
Péter Szilágyi, the head of the Ethereum team, said that many Ethereum clients are "very aggressive" in deleting old blockchain segments, causing problems with the network's dependence on Geth.
The Ethereum software client Geth (Go Ethereum) became the focus of discussion. Péter Szilágyi raised concerns about the growing reliance on Geth, emphasizing its impact on data availability and network decentralization.
In a May 27 X post, Szilágyi discussed the complexity of Ethereum’s storage infrastructure, noting that it was similar to a long-running debate over Bitcoin development.
Szilágyi is concerned that Ethereum is increasingly relying on Geth for data storage, especially as the platform scales. He noted that many clients other than Geth choose to "aggressively" delete old blockchain segments because they are "no longer needed."
He said: "Most clients other than Geth started very aggressively deleting old blockchain segments because they were no longer needed. The rationale was that you could reprocess the blockchain, so you did a 'full sync,' but No need to keep data (because Geth keeps it for us, losers).
This strategy may offer short-term benefits in terms of storage optimization, but Szilágyi raises profound questions about the long-term resilience and decentralization of the Ethereum network. He warned of the risks of data dependency and the consequences of widespread data purges, saying "data tends to disappear and not reappear, so the more people drop something, the less likely it is that the remaining nodes will be willing to store/serve it; it will be found; It will also be harder for those willing to provide it."
The Ethereum community has long grappled with concerns about Ethereum client dependency. According to Ethernodes, more than 40% of Ethereum clients rely on Geth and nearly 38% rely on Nethermind. Therefore, Ethereum client dependency issues have prompted major crypto companies like Coinbase to explore alternative Ethereum execution clients to diversify their infrastructure.
