# Validated, staking on eth2: #5 - Why client diversity matters

DevFeed: [Validated, staking on eth2: #5 - Why client diversity matters](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/validated-staking-on-eth2-5-why-client-diversity-matters-16921.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.ethereum.org/en/2020/08/21/validated-why-client-diversity-matters>)

Author: Carl Beekhuizen

Published: 2020-08-21T00:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Ethereum Foundation Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/ethereum-foundation-blog.md>)

Topics: [client](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/client.md>), [Protocol (disambiguation)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/protocol.md>), [incident](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/incident.md>)

Tags: [bugs](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/bugs.md>), [incident](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/incident.md>), [network](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/network.md>), [protocol](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/protocol.md>), [research-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/research-development.md>)

## AI overview

The article explains why client diversity matters for Eth2, using Medalla testnet failures as evidence. Nimbus and Lodestar struggled with the workload, while a Prysm time-server incident affected a large share of the network, preventing finality and causing forks, synchronization problems, memory exhaustion, and broader instability. It argues that client concentration increases systemic risk.

## Source excerpt

\*Disclaimer: None of this is meant as a slight against any client in particular. There is a high likelihood that each client and possibly even the specification has its own oversights and bugs. Eth2 is a complicated protocol, and the people implementing it are only human. The point of this...