Ethereum core developer Superphiz said that since the launch of the beacon chain on December 1, 2020, the Ethereum ecosystem has only slashed 226 validators, accounting for only 0.04% of the 524,060 validators. One of the largest slashing events occurred on February 4, 2021, when 75 validators of staking infrastructure provider Staked were slashed for producing competitive blocks. Staked said that the breach of certification was caused by a "technical issue."
Slashing is the process by which a validator violates the rules of the proof-of-stake consensus, which usually results in the validator being removed from the network and slashing a portion of the staked Ethereum. Superphiz said that the likelihood of such a slashing is small, suggesting that people should not be worried about staking ETH for this specific reason. Superphiz pointed out that many of the withdrawals were caused by "failed system migration." (Cointelegraph)
