Ethereum Foundation highlights UX, social layer as security ‘challenges’

The Ethereum Foundation has highlighted six security challenge areas for its ecosystem’s future in a Tuesday report, including issues with user experience and the social layer.

The analysis, generated through inputs from Ethereum stakeholders like users and developers, notes that user experience, or UX, is one of the key security areas where Ethereum can enhance its position.

“A significant burden of security falls on the user,” notes the report, adding that “UX security and safety was the top issue identified through feedback and consultation with the ecosystem.”

Key aspects of UX concerns include blind signing, approval and permission management, and compromised web interfaces. “Many users are not equipped to safely manage cryptographic keys,” it said.

The report also lists areas such as smart-contract security, infrastructure and cloud security, consensus protocol, monitoring and incident response, along with risk mitigation efforts, social layer and governance.

The analysis highlights the community’s concerns about centralization, including stake centralization and offchain asset centralization. “Centralization of large amounts of stake can pose risks to Ethereum as a whole if the entities controlling that stake decide to collude,” it said. This economic centralization creates the potential for social governance capture.”

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The report follows a recently disclosed security endeavor. On May 14, the EF announced its “Trillion Dollar Security Initiative,” appointing Josh Stark from the Ethereum Foundation management team and Fredrik Svantes, a protocol security research lead, as co-chairs.

According to the Foundation, risks to the social layer and governance “tend to be more long-term oriented, and concern Ethereum as a whole rather than the security of individual users or applications.”

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The Ethereum blockchain is still the leading network among decentralized finance applications, despite growing competition across layer-1 blockchains.

Ethereum accounted for $65 billion, or 55.6%, of the $116.9 billion recorded onchain on DeFi protocols as of Tuesday, according to data from DefiLlama. Despite a gradual erosion of market share, Ethereum’s lead remains substantial compared to Solana’s 7.5%.

Ethereum has a similar edge in the RWA tokenization market. The blockchain accounts for $7.35 billion, or 59.6% of the sector’s market. Its nearest competitor, the layer-2 network Stellar, accounts for $465.8 million, or 3.8% of the market.

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