ACD After Hours: ACDE #238 đ
The case for transparent, if not permissionless, blockchains
Good evening,
Last week, I discussed the growing proliferation of centrally coordinated blockchain protocols that often boast higher levels of geographic, software, and jurisdictional diversity than traditional public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
This week, Iâm extending that discussion to examine what value these increasingly coordinated blockchain systems offer relative to traditional financial services.
Because their diversity is highly coordinated, the resulting decentralization, while potentially substantial, is not necessarily permissionless or credibly neutral. Rather, it depends on a central coordinator and the decisions of a relatively small set of actors.
For blockchains that can enforce rules, intervene in emergencies, and operate in ways similar to traditional companies, albeit with a greater commitment to operational diversity and resilience, an important question emerges: What exactly does the decentralization and open-source nature of these systems provide?
My argument is that even when a public blockchain falls short of credible neutrality, there remains immense value in the operational transparency these protocols can provide.
Letâs get into it.
Yours truly,
Christine D. Kim
P.S. If youâre in NYC, Iâll be hosting another All Protocol Devs happy hour next Wednesday, June 10. Itâs an informal gathering for protocol developers, researchers, and enthusiasts interested in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and public blockchain development more broadly. Hope to see you there! RSVP on Luma.
đď¸ Call Minutes
First, a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) #238.
Glamsterdam Devnet Updates
Glamsterdam-Devnet-5 was launched today, June 4, with two execution layer (EL) clients and five consensus layer (CL) clients.
Developers confirmed that there will be no EL or CL-specific devnets for Glamsterdam moving forward. EL and CL code changes will be tested together on future devnets.
Developers also agreed to include preliminary versions of all remaining EL-focused Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) on Glamsterdam-Devnet-6.
Refer to this Google spreadsheet for an overview of the latest testing and inclusion status of Glamsterdam EIPs.
Hegota Proposals
Developers discussed the following EIPs for consideration in the Hegota upgrade:
EIP-8131: Updates Ethereum's transaction cost rules to properly account for the new smart account features introduced by EIP-7702.
EIP-8279: Makes sure users pay the correct fees when accessing additional data during transaction execution.
EIP-7979: Introduces new low-level instructions that could make Ethereum programs more efficient and easier to optimize.
EIP-8173: Provides a framework for understanding how Ethereum executes programs and how future upgrades could improve scalability.
EIP-8222: Proposes a new staking protocol that improves privacy by making it harder to link validators to node operators.
EIP-7851: Allows smart accounts created through EIP-7702 to update themselves without retaining their original private key permissions.
EIP-8151: Adjusts Ethereum's signature verification mechanism to ensure accounts that permanently disable their old keys are handled correctly.
Announcements
As discussed on ACDC #179, developers will implement PR #793, a change to the Execution API authored by Geth client developer Marius van der Wijden for supporting SSZ data serialization formats.
Developers will be experimenting with a new time for next weekâs ACDC meeting. The meeting will be held on Thursday, June 11, at 11:00 UTC/7:00 EDT.
đ Thatâs all for my summary of ACDE #238. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:
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đ Insights
The case for transparent, if not decentralized, blockchains
Bitcoinâs invention of non-sovereign digital money was groundbreaking, but another equally important innovation was Bitcoinâs transparent ledger.
The BTC holdings of every address and amounts transferred by every transaction could be independently verified by anyone able to run a node.
