The problem here is more to do with the lack of incentive to be a validator, leading to the majority of node runners distributing horizontally to optimize their servicer count and causing a lower average validator stake, than it is to do with the number of validators.
Our validator set has a very long tail. The 12th largest validator has only 62,500 POKT staked, the 22nd largest validator has ~30k POKT staked, and we get into the range of 16k POKT staked at approx 200-300 validators.
It is therefore my view that increasing the validator set from 1k to 5k isn’t going to have as much impact as increasing the average validator stake. We can do this by making a validator more attractive to whales than servicers, by adjusting the ProposerAllocation. This has the bonus of consolidating the total node count, thus reducing the total operating cost of the network. Adam and I are currently drafting a proposal that does this.
I’m not opposed to expanding the validator set, it just shouldn’t be our only solution. I think we should also keep in mind that we may later want to reduce MaxValidators again in light of the light client and the behaviors we observe in how many node runners optimize to be a servicer vs validator.