After the Ethereum merger, more than 45% of the network nodes are controlled by just two addresses

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According to Santiment, more than 45%Ethereum nodes launched after The Merge update are controlled by just two addresses. This has raised new concerns among the crypto community about centralization.

Analytical company Santiment reported inTwitter that shortly after the completion of The Merge update and the transition of the Ethereum network to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), 45.15% of the nodes running to validate blocks, process transactions and store data are running with just two addresses. This confirmed that Ethereum's transition to PoS may not be without fundamental problems and raised new concerns among the crypto community about the centralization of the network.

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According to our #Ethereum Post MergeInflation dashboard, 46.15% of the #proofofstake nodes for storing data, processing transactions, and adding new #blockchain blocks can be attributed to just two addresses. This heavy dominance by these addresses is something to watch. pic.twitter.com/KQdFNgGloD

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) September 15, 2022

At the time of writing, Santiment was the firstthe address confirmed about 188 blocks, which is 28.97%. The second address confirmed 105 blocks – 16.18%. These two addresses have a total share of 45.15% of all nodes. The data presented by Santiment caused a mixed reaction among members of the crypto community. Some see this as confirmation of their fears about the centralization of the network, while others see it as a reason to accuse platform observers of incompetence.

Proponents of the first point of view stated thatboth addresses may belong to the Ethereum Foundation and the American multinational investment bank JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co. Additionally, there are concerns that Ethereum could become more centralized, if only because just five institutions account for up to 64% of the 13.4 million ETH outstanding. Moreover, the liquid betting service Lido accounts for the largest share of 31%.

In August, she shared her concernsWeb3 storage infrastructure co-founder Maggie Love, who reported that the majority of Ethereum network nodes are managed by centralized providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), which dominates this space with a 52.1% share, Hetzner (more than 15%) and OVH (4.1%).

Proponents of the opposing point of viewstated that Santiment analysts were superficial in their analysis of the events taking place. The addresses cited to support their message actually consist of tens of thousands of validators, which suggests that they are just relays.

Previously an Ethereum 2 node validator.0 Rocket Pool stated that the only way to counter the regulatory takeover of the Ethereum network after the merger is topological and geographic decentralization of validators.