Cross-linking the Reddit thread here.
This is a really valuable report and a much-needed (quasi-) third party look at eth2. I definitely agree with several of the assessments:
- we need much more sustainable long-term funding
- embracing existing standards processes is probably a good idea - we discussed this quite a bit as part of the eth1x discussions with some folks at ConsenSys that have experience developing standards
- the core team doesn’t have control of the public narrative and hasn’t really made much effort to do so - although this indictment is valid of Ethereum in general, not just eth2
- the eth2 roadmap is developing well, but it will take longer than many realize for eth2 to reach a state where it’s usable from the perspective of most developers and users. According to Justin it’s 2021 - and that may be a best case scenario. Lots of the details from phase 2 onwards are still very hazy.
One of my takeaways is that, while we should do everything we can to continue to support eth2 research and development, in parallel we should be reinvesting in today’s network (“eth1x”) for a few reasons:
- as an insurance policy in case eth2 is further delayed or things go wrong
- as a source of ideas, innovation, and experience that can flow into and benefit eth2
- to reduce time pressure on the eth2 roadmap
- to increase the value of the eth brand and increase value flowing into the ecosystem, which benefits eth2 as well
- to explore moonshot ideas that could be promising, such as (one random example) anchoring polkadot’s substrate in eth base-layer security
- to improve governance and project management
I explored a few more ideas in this thread.