Vitalik Buterin proposes metrics to measure ‘Ethereum alignment’

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed putting together a set of metrics to measure how “aligned” projects are with Ethereum’s values.

In his latest blog post on Sept. 28, Buterin said achieving “Ethereum alignment” remains one of the most important social challenges in the Ethereum ecosystem.

But he acknowledged it’s a tough task given the vast array of client teams, application developers, researchers, and local communities, each trying to contribute to Ethereum in their unique way:

“The primary challenge is making sure that all these projects are, collectively, building something that feels like one Ethereum ecosystem, and not 138 incompatible fiefdoms.”

Buterin said there are already several “starting points,” such as how open-source a project is.

He explained that open source means code can be inspected for security purposes, but it also reduces the risk of proprietary lock-in and allows third parties to make improvements.

Then, there’s how interoperable a project is, with Buterin suggesting that applications and wallets could be rated by which ERCs they are compatible with.

Meanwhile, decentralization and security could also be measured by the “walkaway” and “insider attack” tests: 

“If your team and servers disappear tomorrow, will your application still be usable?” 

“If your team itself tries to attack the system, how much will break, and how much harm could you do,” he explained. 

A project could also be judged on how positive it is for the Ethereum community or humanity — for example, improving financial inclusion and enabling new public funding mechanisms, he continued.

Source: Suhail Kakar

Buterin stressed how important it is for Ethereum to remain credibly neutral:

“If alignment means having the right friends, then ‘alignment’ as a concept has failed.”

In July, Ethereum community member Ryan Berckmans stressed to Cointelegraph how important it is for Ethereum builders to limit marketing — as it could create an environment where winners and losers emerge.

“While it's literally good for growth, it ends up turning your chain and community into a politically charged partnership swamp, and that will prevent the serious growth down the line where corporations and governments start relying on onchain for very important and large activities.”

Related: Ethereum blob count is ‘uncomfortably close to a ceiling’ — Vitalik Buterin

Buterin is himself a highly influential voice in the Ethereum ecosystem. In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, remarked that Ethereum could be relying too heavily on Buterin for direction.

“Everybody looks to him for the roadmap. Everybody looks to him for inspiration, and he’s also the only person who has enough power to rally people,” Hoskinson told Cointelegraph.

“If you were to remove him from the equation right now, what’s the next hard fork going to look like, and how quickly can they actually get there?”

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