Blockchain
The “intersubjective bifurcation” of EigenLayer is not objectively performed
EigenLayer, the Ethereum “restaking” project that quickly rose to the top of the DeFi charts thanks to so-called airdrop farmers, has finally acknowledged its intention to launch its own EIGEN token. The terms of the planned airdrop – or “stakedrop” as the Eigen Foundation described it – have left many traders disappointed, especially those who failed to manage their expectations. And there have also been a lot of questions about how EIGEN tokenomics will work – and when. In this week’s episode we try to simplify everything; readers should manage their expectations.
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INTERSUBJECTIVIZATION OF FORCIFICATION: The Ethereum restaging project own layer, whose plan to repurpose the security of the Ethereum blockchain for hordes of additional protocols has pushed warnings about systemic risk from Vitalik Buterin himselfReleased to 43 page white paper on its next EIGEN token – more than double the length of the original 19 page white paper on EigenLayer. To address the concerns, the project, led by sesquipedale computer engineer Sreeram Kannan, came up with a new plan for something called “intersubjective bifurcation.” The purpose of this mechanism would be to deal with “instances of misbehavior that cannot be objectively identified on the chain, but two reasonable observers would agree that a sanction is deserved.” If such an “intersubjective error” occurred, the EIGEN token could be forked without having to fork the main Ethereum blockchain. Are you following me? Well, according to a blog post: Very little of this will be functional when the EIGEN token launches: “Given that its design is completely new, the concept needs to be absorbed and discussed widely by ecosystem participants. The initial implementation of intersubjective staking in this launch reflects the ‘entire protocol to only a limited extent. However, there are still several parameters to be determined for full implementation.” Such a not fully functioning system would echo the EigenLayer mainnet launch a few weeks ago, where, how detailed by Coindesk, promised crucial features, including key “scaling” and “attributable security” mechanisms, were held back from launch because they were not ready. Needless to say, many of these details were lost on the cryptocurrency traders who had poured around $15 billion in deposits into the project, many of them simply hoping to qualify for the EIGEN token airdrop which approximately zero people in the crypto world doubted it would come to an end. THE parsimony of terms, however, has apparently left many of these so-called airdrop farmers wanting. “Not all the feedback has been positive,” says the The Bankless newsletter writes itand the complaints were partly centered around the token’s initial “non-transferability” period. Only 15% of the tokens will go to “stakedrop” – the Eigen Foundation’s term – and more than half of the tokens will be allocated to investors and early contributors, with unlocks starting after just a year.
In this diagram from the EIGEN token whitepaper, “intersubjectively attributable defects” fall somewhere between “objectively attributable defects” and “subjective defects.”
MIXING: The US Attorney’s Office has launched a campaign against the creators of blockchain protocols allegedly used to facilitate money laundering Samurai wallet founders Keonne Rodriguez, 35, and William Lonergan Hill, 65, with criminal conspiracy aimed at money laundering. Rodriguez yes found not guilty. Samourai Wallet was (its servers were seized) a bitcoin wallet that promised to “keep your transactions private and your identity masked” through a privacy-preserving service called “Whirlpool”, as reported by Daniel Kuhn of CoinDesk. US President Joe Biden’s administration has stepped up efforts to eliminate these coin-mixing services. This includes the arrest of Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov in April 2021 and participating in the arrest of the co-founders of Tornado Cash in 2023. The cases are prompting renewed scrutiny of the legal issues surrounding open source software. Is this speech in code? Late last week, the companies behind the popular Phoenix Lightning Wallet and the privacy-preserving Wasabi Wallet has taken steps to close off access to US customers – raising the further question of whether blockchain innovation is more likely to occur outside the United States due to regulatory pressure or uncertainty.
Diagram illustrating the basic concepts of Samourai Whirlpool operation. (Samourai)
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