PART I: EIGENLAYER GOVERNANCE VALUES
Why EigenLayer Governance Matters?
EigenLayer’s vision is ambitious. If this vision is executed correctly, it can lead to a whole lot of staked ETH being repurposed and put at risk and can lead to a whole lot of middleware services relying upon it. If properly executed, EigenLayer has the potential to further unlock the true power of decentralized trust and enable a free market for viable upgrades to Ethereum itself. As such, one key goal of the EigenLayer team should be to govern the EigenLayer protocol in a way that upholds the governance values of Ethereum at its core.
How is Ethereum Itself Governed?
This begs the question: what are the governance values of Ethereum? When it comes to governance, I’d summarize Ethereum’s core values as follows:
- Decentralization: Ethereum’s governance values decentralization, where decision-making power is distributed among the community of developers, users, and stakeholders, rather than being concentrated in the hands of a few.
- Transparency: Ethereum’s governance is transparent, with open discussions and debates on important issues related to the platform’s development and governance, and decisions made in a clear and transparent manner.
- Inclusivity: Ethereum’s governance values inclusivity and seeks to encourage participation from a diverse community of developers, users, and stakeholders.
- Credible Neutrality: Ethereum’s governance is credibly neutral and impartial, not favoring any particular individuals or groups over others. Everyone has an equal opportunity to use and benefit from it.
- Security: Ethereum’s governance prioritizes the security of the platform and its users, with a focus on identifying and mitigating potential vulnerabilities and risks.
- Flexibility: Ethereum’s governance values flexibility, with a willingness to adapt and evolve in response to changing circumstances, new technologies, and emerging challenges.
- Community-Driven: Ethereum’s governance is community-driven, with decisions made based on the collective input and consensus of the community, rather than being driven by any single individual or group.
Community consensus is a crucial aspect of Ethereum governance, as decisions are made through discussions and debates among a diverse community of developers, users, and stakeholders – a process known as rough consensus. To facilitate community consensus, Ethereum has various governance processes and mechanisms in place, such as the Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) process, which allows anyone to propose changes or improvements to the platform, and the Ethereum Cat Herders, a group that helps facilitate communication and coordination among Ethereum stakeholders.
Ultimately, community consensus is critical to Ethereum’s success, as it helps ensure that decisions are made in the best interests of the community and that the platform continues to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of its users.
What Inspiration Can Be Derived from Ethereum Governance?
EigenLayer can and should employ these same values in governing its own protocol in order to maintain long-term value alignment with the Ethereum community. EigenLayer can do this by:
- Implementing a decentralized governance structure: EigenLayer can create a governance structure that distributes decision-making power among its users, developers, and stakeholders (ETH restakers), rather than being controlled by the EigenLayer core team or solely by ETH restakers.
- Encouraging community participation and input: EigenLayer can create mechanisms to encourage community participation and input, such as forums (like this one!), reasonable voting mechanisms that don’t rely solely on token-weighting, and community-driven development processes.
- Ensuring transparency and openness: EigenLayer can maintain transparency and openness in its decision-making processes, by having important discussions in public (see: Ethereum’s All Core Dev Calls) and publishing meeting minutes and other relevant information to the community.
- Prioritizing security and stability: EigenLayer can prioritize security and stability by conducting regular security audits and bug bounties on the core EigenLayer protocol, and by leveraging agent-based simulation tools.
- Fostering innovation and growth: EigenLayer can create an environment that supports experimentation and the development of new middleware services and features, by providing resources, funding, and technical support to developers (similar to the role played by the Ethereum Foundation’s Ecosystem Support Program)
By employing these values in its own governance, EigenLayer can create a robust and resilient system that is aligned with the values of the broader Ethereum community—something that is critical to the longevity of the EigenLayer protocol.
Please share your thoughts on what EigenLayer should value when it comes to its governance. If there’s anything I missed, or if you disagree with any of the above, share below!
I’ll continue in a separate post, Part II: EigenLayer Governance Structure.