Ethereum Founder Discusses Decentralization: Introduces "Leave Test" Evaluation Tool

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin raised an interesting point in his blog post about how to assess the level of decentralization of blockchain projects. He suggested using "leave tests" and "internal attack tests" to measure a project's reliance on centralized infrastructure and its security.

"Internal attack testing" refers to actively attacking the system to observe the potential damage that may be caused, thereby discovering potential vulnerabilities. "Exit testing," on the other hand, is a new thinking tool used to examine the degree of centralization dependencies of projects and networks, and can serve as a key indicator for evaluating decentralized projects, and can even further develop into a risk rating tool.

The Core Idea of "Leaving the Test"

The core question of "Leaving the Test" is: If the project team and servers suddenly disappear, will the application still be able to function normally? This test aims to assess whether Web3 projects, platforms, or protocols have true independent operational capabilities and sustainable development value.

This test involves multiple aspects of consideration:

1. Project Development:

   • Can the project operate independently after the development team disbands?
   • Is there an active community that can take over the project?
   • Is the code open source and able to attract developers for continuous improvement?
   • Are there decentralized validation nodes or sufficient community support?

2. Economic Model:

   • Does the project have a sustainable operating model?
   • Does it have practical application scenarios?
   • Is asset appreciation overly reliant on speculation or centralized control?

3. Community Governance:

   • Do all parties involved have a fair decision-making process?
   • Can the project initiate a decision-making mechanism and solve problems without a core manager?
   • Is there an over-reliance on a few core members for governance?

The Importance of "Leaving the Test"

If a project overly relies on the founding team or specific key personnel, or if the network must depend on fixed servers to process data, it is essentially still centralized. This could affect the project's long-term viability, value, as well as its resistance to censorship and risks.

The importance of "leaving the test" lies in its ability to reveal the actual degree of dependence of a project or network on centralized infrastructure, thus facilitating effective improvements. The technological philosophy behind this thinking tool is a firm belief in "Decentralization".

Vitalik Buterin has pointed out that decentralization involves three independent aspects: architecture, politics, and logic. He emphasizes that the importance of decentralization is reflected in:

1. Improve fault tolerance: Decentralized systems consist of multiple independent components, resulting in a lower probability of overall failure.
2. Enhance attack resistance: Decentralized systems lack sensitive central points, which increases the cost of attacks.
3. Preventing collusion: The cost for participants to collude for profit in a decentralized system is higher.

Key Tests for Evaluating Decentralization Projects

From the perspective of "leaving the test", Bitcoin can be considered to have passed this test: despite the mystery surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto's identity, Bitcoin continues to evolve relying on a decentralized network and global developers.

In the Ethereum ecosystem, Vitalik Buterin once mentioned that most Rollup projects are still in an immature stage and have adopted auxiliary means known as "Training Wheels" to ensure operations. This reflects the reliance of Rollup projects on "human intervention"; the higher the degree of reliance, the greater the risk.

To this end, Vitalik Buterin and others proposed a scheme to classify based on the degree of reliance on Training Wheels for Rollup projects. This scheme was later adopted and improved by the L2beat website, evolving into the "Layer2 Risk Rating Indicator" used to assess the risk levels of different Layer2 projects.

From a broader perspective, "leaving the test" can further develop into a risk assessment tool used to measure the actual degree of decentralization and sustainability of various decentralized applications such as Web3 wallets, games, and DeFi.

Just as political philosophy emphasizes the separation of powers rather than concentration, the blockchain world also needs to achieve true Decentralization through consensus standards. Competition among projects should be based on clear and understandable criteria rather than relying on specific relational networks. This evaluation method helps to drive the entire industry towards a more Decentralized, transparent, and sustainable direction.