Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has criticized the Ethereum layer-2 community ZKsync as a result of it nonetheless operates like a multisig system regardless of claims of community-led governance.
In a put up on X (previously Twitter), Yakovenko argued that the identical “sincere majority” assumptions apply to ZKsync as a result of its system’s authorized or technical management may simply fall below the jurisdiction of a court docket, compromising its decentralization.
Based on him:
“Sufficient of the token holders to create a quorum and sufficient of the ‘skilled safety council’ may very well be inside attain of a rando US chapter decide that might order all of them take all of the bridged belongings below management of a chapter belief.”
His feedback had been in response to Alex Gluchowski, co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs, the crew behind ZKsync. Gluchowski had claimed the community’s new decentralized governance system was not a multisig setup and making “a vital step in the direction of Stage 2.”
Stage 2 refers to a transition from a fan of full decentralization. On this stage, belief is positioned fully within the blockchain’s code and algorithms, making certain the system is open, safe, and immune to manipulation.
Notably, no Ethereum layer-2 community is fully in Stage 2 of its decentralization growth.
Decentralized governance
On Sept. 12, Gluchowski introduced that ZKsync’s governance system had gone reside.
The system introduces a three-body construction, which incorporates the ZK token meeting—a gaggle of token holders who delegate their voting energy to delegates. These delegates can submit and vote on protocol, token, and governance improve proposals.
Based on the crew:
“That is maybe a very powerful aspect of the system: token holders and their Delegates can provoke atypical upgrades to the ZKsync protocol immediately onchain, as a substitute of counting on a single multisig.”
In the meantime, Delegates may also have authorized safety by means of the ZKsync Affiliation, an ownerless non-profit that addresses private legal responsibility issues.
The second a part of the governance construction is the ZKsync Safety Council, which consists of engineers, auditors, and safety professionals. The Council has the facility to evaluate and actively approve protocol upgrades, freeze the protocol, and submit needed time-sensitive upgrades.
Nonetheless, their energy is constrained as they can’t submit and approve upgrades unilaterally.
Lastly, the ZKsync Guardians guarantee governance proposals align with the rules of the ZK Credo. They maintain veto energy and function a examine on the opposite governance our bodies.
The three governance entities—the Token Meeting, Safety Council, and Guardians—collaborate to evaluate and execute proposals, corresponding to ZKsync Enhancements, Token Applications, and Governance Advisory adjustments. The Token Meeting can submit proposals, which the Guardians can veto if wanted, and the Safety Council should approve protocol upgrades.
Primarily, this construction prevents people or teams from having unilateral management over proposals and upgrades.