Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum can handle temporary loss of finality

Odaily Planet Daily reported that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on the X platform that losing finality occasionally is no big deal; finality is meant to ensure that blocks are not rolled back. If due to a significant client error, finality is delayed by a few hours, as long as erroneous blocks are not finalized, the situation is acceptable, and the chain will continue to operate during this period. Computer science PhD Fabrizio Romano Genovese agrees with Vitalik Buterin’s view, noting that when finality is lost, Ethereum becomes more like Bitcoin. He explained that Ethereum’s finality mechanism is such that when a block receives more than 66% validator votes, it is “justified,” and after two additional Epochs (64 blocks), the block is “finalized.” A Polygon spokesperson stated that the lack of finality can affect infrastructure relying on it, such as certain cross-chain or Layer 2 bridges, but Polygon will continue normal operations. However, transfers from Ethereum to sidechains might be delayed until finality is restored. AggLayer will also delay transactions from Ethereum to L2 until finality is regained.