2019-09-27 11:22:09 -07:00
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::
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ZIP: Unassigned
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Title: Decentralize the Dev Fee
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Owners: Matt Luongo <matt@thesis.co>
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Status: Draft
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Category: Process
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Created: 2019-09-27
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License: MIT
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2019-09-27 11:45:27 -07:00
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Motivation
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==========
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Who am I?
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---------
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My name is Matt Luongo. I'm an entrepreneur who's been full-time in the crypto
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space since 2014, co-founding Fold, a Bitcoin payments company, and more
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recently Keep, a private computation startup built on Ethereum. I've built some
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`around Zcash <https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/2129>`_, and we've
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considered investing more heavily in Zcash development on our latest project.
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I'm deeply interested in privacy tech. For me, privacy is about consent --
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consent to know my habits, beliefs, and preferences -- and I see privacy as
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the next frontier in our pursuit of an economy that respects individual choice.
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My perspective is as the founder of a for-profit company focused on building
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self-sovereign technologyi who would like to develop on Zcash. We work in this
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space ideologically, but our work isn't free; attracting and growing talent
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requires funding.
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If you're interested in more on my background, I've introduced myself more
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`properly on the forum
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<https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/introducing-matt-luongo-from-keep/34947>`_.
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What's this about?
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------------------
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Since Zcon1, I've been looking to fund work to build an Ethereum / Zcash bridge.
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I've spoken to the ECC, the Zcash Foundation, and a number of early Zcash
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community members on how best to move forward with this project, and in the
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process I've learned a lot about how the community works and dev governance has
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been structured thus far.
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Inevitably, I've become interested in the community's proposals for a new dev
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fee, and thought about how the right structure might support work like ours.
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I believe the Zcash community has an opportunity to deploy a new incentive
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structure that will attract companies like ours to build and improve Zcash,
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leading to a more resilient network, stronger technology, and wider usage.
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2019-09-27 12:01:38 -07:00
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The Zcash Narrative
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-------------------
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We're all here to build a robust, private, decentralized currency. But in the
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dev fee proposals I've seen so far, the idea of a Zcash narrative that
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distinguishes it from the competition is absent.
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One direction proposed in ZIP XYZ claims that Zcash is a hedge against Bitcoin's
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long-term privacy failure. Put simply, Zcash is "Bitcoin, but private".
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I believe that Zcash should aim higher. Only one coin has successfully made a
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store of value argument, which I like to call "worse is better". Don't upgrade
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the network -- stability is more important than solving today's problems.
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Bitcoin is chasing the Lindy effect, where worse is better, and that's great for
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Bitcoin. For the rest of us, though, better is better. Zcash *should be better*.
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Zcash is known for having the best tech in the space, built by one of the best
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team's in the space. We should lean in to that reputation, nurturing the best
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2019-10-06 13:44:57 -07:00
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research and engineering talent to take Zcash to the next level, leveraging a
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Zcash dev fee as a differentiator to build the world's best private medium of
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exchange.
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Evolving Zcash Governance
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=========================
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Principles of cryptocurrency governance
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---------------------------------------
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Most proof-of-work chains today have three major governing roles
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1. Miners validate and secure the chain. They do some work to earn a reward.
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Miners are the first owners of newly minted coins, and are an integral part
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of network upgrades.
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2. Users buy, hold, and spend the currency. In networks like Bitcoin, they also
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run full nodes, strengthening network resilience by decentralizing
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validation.
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3. Developers maintain clients to power and interact with the network. They
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typically propose network upgrades.
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On a chain like Bitcoin, any of these roles can veto a network upgrade.
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1. Miners can veto activating a new fork by refusing to build off blocks using
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new network rules, orphaning a minority effort. They can also attack any fork
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attempt that doesn't change
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2. Users can veto a fork by refusing to update their full nodes, rejecting
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blocks as invalid -- as demonstrated in the UASF fiasco resulting from the
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SegWit2x attempt to force a Bitcoin hardfork. Users can also vote with their
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dollars, acting as a fork resolution of last resort via market pressure.
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3. Developers can refuse to update client codebases to follow a fork. While this
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might not seem like a strong veto, in practice that means any fork will need
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at least one additional development team, or the agreement of existing client
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software developers.
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These roles together form a balance of power that makes contentious forks
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difficult -- any change that a large swath of users disapproves of could split
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the chain.
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The state of play
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-----------------
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In Zcash, the addition of the Electic Coin Company (ECC) and the Zcash
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Foundation skew this balance.
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Both organizations are comprised of Zcash founders, developers, researchers, and
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privacy proponents who have driven this ecosystem forward and represent its
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values. Nevertheless, their mode of operation today skews a healthy balance of
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power in Zcash governance.
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The mechanisms of that skew are the Zcash trademark, held by the ECC, and
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primary client software development, now split between the ECC and the
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Foundation.
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In a disagreement between miners, users, and developers, the ECC has the
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unilateral option of enforcing the Zcash trademark, effectively allowing them
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to choose a winning fork against the will of users, miners, and other
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developers.
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While the Foundation's maintenance of the `zebrad` client would normally allow
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them to "soft veto" a network upgrade, they don't have a similar veto on the
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Zcash trademark enforcement.
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Compounding these issues, the Foundation and the ECC aren't arms-length entities
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as they're organized today.
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This situation poses a number of problems for new and existing Zcash users, as
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well as both entities.
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* The threat of a central entity overriding (or being forced to override) the
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will of users undermines self-sovereignty.
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* The ECC and Foundation are both put at legal risk. As entangled entities,
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they're remarkably similar to a single entity when trying to minimize
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regulatory risk.
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* Power between the two entites *hasn't* been decentralized. The ECC remains
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a unilateral power, as well as a single point of failure.
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2019-10-06 14:02:29 -07:00
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The "crowding out" problem
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--------------------------
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The last issue arising from this scheme is the one I'm most incentivized to
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address.
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The Zcash ecosystem, as it exists today, has little incentive for outside
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developers to participate.
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Zcash development has a high learning curve.
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* The reference client is a fork of the Bitcoin reference implementation,
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building on a decade of poorly written legacy code.
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* What Zcash brings to the table involves a greater understanding of applied
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cryptography than most projects. SNARKs are often still referred to as "moon
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math", after all.
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* As the recent network-level attack demonstrates, full-stack privacy is hard.
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Most outside developers need to see a clear path to longer-term funding before
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they can commit to the cost of that curve.
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Even those developers who already have the expertise to work on this system are
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frustrated by the lack of longer-term funding. For evidence, look at Parity's
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exit from Zcash after `zebrad` development, or Summa's struggles to work on
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Zcash.
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