Ethereum Not instant cash, but collateral can provide a near-instant experience

On 22 September, Ethereum 's trading infrastructure company Puffer announced that Google Search ( Google Cloud 00) will operate its pre-confirmation gateway to guarantee transaction results in advance to applications and users before the completion of settlement for on-chain transactions. The UniFi network owned by Puffer will be the first platform to access this service. This means that the Ethereum -ecosystem is more than a large corporation participating in schemes on shortening the time gap between user experience and underlying settlement.

Why Ethereum needs to be pre-confirmed

The Ethereum base layer has 12 seconds as a block time slot, transactions are packed into blocks only the first step of completion, stronger finality confirmation usually takes several minutes, and rolling back records that have been finalized will trigger huge fines, which means serious invalidity for cybersecurity . Therefore, a large number of applications running on rollup such as layer 2 give an early confirmation by carrier , so that the application can be applied immediately to users while waiting for the final settlement of Ethereum .

Forouzani illustrates this with a hypothetical transaction: the user exchanges 1 ETH for 2,600 USDC , and the gateway guarantees full execution of the result, including specific amounts received rather than just promises that transactions will be packaged into blocks. Such commitments are called preconfirmations. If an application accepts the commitment and understands its terms, it can continue to execute as expected before settlement is completed, allowing the sale and purchase of tokens to become a coherent experience.

In terms of speed, Forouzani says that Puffer's transaction time is configured to be 50 milliseconds or one-twentieth of a second, but this is set within the company system and has not been independently verified for real paying users to experience such speeds. The finality of Ethereum itself still needs to be done at its own pace.

Costs of wrongdoing: ETH No fines and compensation not yet specified

The core constraint mechanism of pre-authentication is collateral and penalties (slashing). According to Forouzani, a single failure in the pre-accreditation will result in a gateway being fined 1 ETH , which gives operators a strong incentive to fulfill their commitments.

However, several key questions remain unresolved. Suppose an app accepts a promise to pay $100 stablecoin in advance and the payment is ultimately not received. The seller needs to know who paid that $100 and how long it was there for. Puffer's announcement says no penalty mechanism protects affected parties, but its response to CryptoSlate does not specify who owned the fined ETH or explain how compensation will be calculated and paid.

Additionally, if the same pool of collateral supports a large number of commitments at once, multiple failures may simultaneously deplete that pool; ETH 's volatility against the US dollar also means that the actual value of 1 ETH penalty is not fixed. The technical outline for Puffer in July 2025 will arrange for penalties to be imposed at a later stage and the latest response does not specify when those penalties become enforceable. Forouzani said there had been no failure under current design but did not provide trading volumes or observation cycles.

Division of labor and follow-up

As planned, in addition to Google Search , there will be back-up gateways that take over transactions when the Google gateway is offline to ensure continuity of service. The true performance remains to be verified. Forouzani also revealed that the first phase will start without a Ethereum base layer validator , with early warranties provided entirely by the gateway and subsequent settlement completed by Ethereum .

For the average user, these details will be digested by app developers: selling low-priced digital goods can accept early commitments, while services dealing with large transfers may choose to wait for stronger confirmations. The core issue facing developers is that once an interface tells users a bribe could cost them money, there must be clear terms on who would bear losses in case of failure.

The Ethereum community itself also has a proposal to shorten the block waiting time, which can partially alleviate latency , but applications always need to judge for themselves how much guarantee is enough. If successful, Puffer's attempt will provide developers with a new option that allows operators of bricks and mortar to be held responsible for their decisions about issuing bonds in gold or silver.

(Risk note: This article is for general information only and does not constitute any investment advice.