Why SSV Is the Hidden Hero of Ethereum Staking
In Brief
What began as a research experiment is now reality—SSV Labs’ Alon Muroch explains how Distributed Validator Technology is transforming Ethereum staking through secure, collaborative infrastructure.
A few years ago, the idea of running an Ethereum validator across multiple independent operators, with no single party holding the full private key, felt like a research experiment. Today, it’s production infrastructure. In our interview, SSV Labs founder Alon Muroch talks about how Distributed Validator Technology has moved from theory to reality, what that means for the future of staking, and why collaboration, not competition, is key to scaling Ethereum securely.
What were the key drivers behind SSV Network surpassing 4 million ETH in secured value, and how do you plan to maintain it?
Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) solved a crucial challenge for ETH staking – validator fault tolerance. Less than 2 years ago, validators were easily susceptible to downtime from bugs, hardware failures, or even geographical issues.
SSV Network provided a DVT infrastructure for any staking application to plug into and help decentralize Ethereum at scale. By splitting the operation of a validator between multiple entities all over the world and running different EL/CL clients on different hardware, Eth’s validator layer becomes truly bulletproof. SSV currently secures 11.30% of all ETH staked, meaning that 11% of all ETH at stake is more secure and decentralized than ever before.
As the current gold standard for secure and resilient ETH staking, SSV aims to help bridge the gap so that institutions can get involved in ETH staking. As we move toward ETH staking ETFs, TradFi, institutions, and exchanges will be key users of the tech to meet their operational needs for risk mitigation.
As institutional staking grows, how is SSV Network positioning itself to meet the demands of enterprise-grade staking infrastructure?
Similar to what i previously said, DVT is critical infra for secure ETH staking and institutional participation will require the most battle-tested tech to do it with – SSV Network is just that.
Can you share insights on the types of operators joining the SSV ecosystem lately? Are we seeing a shift from early adopters to more traditional actors?
SSV Network is host to over 1700 globally decentralized node operators. These operators range from at-home stakers to the leading node operators in the industry, including P2P.org, Kiln, A41, and many others. Through collaborations with Lido (Simple DVT & the recently passed SSVLM) ssv has allowed solo operators to band together to run validators for Lido and organically grow their node operator base. On the B2B side enterprise node operators run their nodes on SSV to provide the best security and uptime for their clients.
SSV2.0 introduces modularity and greater developer flexibility. What new types of applications do you expect to emerge from this evolution?
SSV2.0 looks into supporting the based ecosystem and by extention Ethereum as it has works to solve fragmentation and bring more value back to the L1.
What are some promising use cases or early projects already experimenting with SSV2.0?
Preconfirmations are looking promising but building the various building blocks with the ecosystem to help solve fragmentation and keep the Ethereum L1 relevant is the long term goal.
How do you envision the relationship between SSV-powered infrastructure and other Ethereum middleware (e.g., EigenLayer, AVSs)?
I see an ecosystem where L2s are essentially becoming the franchise model for Ethereum, different companies that want to participate will build their own L2s and spin up ecosystems inside them how they want. SSV network is working toward collaboration instead of competition.
Do you expect Based rollups to reshape how Ethereum secures value long-term? If so, what role will distributed validator technology play?
Based Rollups are very important for Ethereum in the long term as more value flows into L2s. Based rolups have a more symbiotic relationship with Ethereum as their transactions are sequenced by L1 validators and not L2 centralized sequencers controlled by security councils, etc.
Validators that are providing based sequencing and preconfirmations for based rollups get a bigger part of the pie. Remember, if validation becomes less and less profitable, there is no incentive for ETH validators to continue securing the network – we need to ensure that they are economically aligned. DVT, of course, comes in to ensure that validator operations are not interrupted by downtime, which could impact the L2 performance with at-scale downtime.
How does SSV plan to collaborate with or support rollup teams exploring this design space?
By helping to solve pain points and putting SSV validators to work.
What are some of the most misunderstood aspects of distributed validator technology in the broader Ethereum community?
Looking at industry buzz over the years, DVT is definitely the silent hero, slowly securing more of Ethereum and making it more decentralized. People don’t realize how foundational this technology has become. The tech is at such a level that private keys can be generated on the spot, trustlessly between more than 10 node operators, running thousands of validators cooperatively – the true ethos of Ethereum.
With the growing convergence of staking, modular infrastructure, and middleware, what’s your long-term vision for the role SSV Labs plays in this new stack?
The Northstar has always been so supportive of Ethereum’s health as a public good.
Looking ahead to 2026, what do you think the validator and rollup landscape will look like, and what role will SSV Labs play?
My personal perspective is that validators will continue to opt into more services for Ethereum, from staking to MEV to preconfirmations and sequencing and beyond. As the role of L2s becomes more and more engranded it’s important that we maintain a decentralized ethos and keep the L1 relevant.
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About The Author
Victoria is a writer on a variety of technology topics including Web3.0, AI and cryptocurrencies. Her extensive experience allows her to write insightful articles for the wider audience.
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Victoria is a writer on a variety of technology topics including Web3.0, AI and cryptocurrencies. Her extensive experience allows her to write insightful articles for the wider audience.
