Crypto's broken moral compass
Blog iconpolynya
Mar 24
I’ll begin by saying - obviously, there’s good in crypto. Indeed, I have written over 150 blog posts over the last 3 years about them (and plenty more with previous pseudonyms), and making the best of crypto and related tech. But none of that matters right now - things have swung too far away to the bad side. (Addendum: just for more clarity,FarcasterA decentralized social networkhttps://farcaster.xyzOver the years, crypto has declined into ever more predatory and evil territory. In 2010, the...

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Crypto's broken moral compass

Crypto's broken moral compass

A Vision of Ethereum - 2025

A Vision of Ethereum - 2025

Stateless infra - where most decentralized compute will be (not blockchains)

Stateless infra - where most decentralized compute will be (not blockchains)

The horrific inefficiencies of monolithic blockchains

The horrific inefficiencies of monolithic blockchains

The drawbacks of strict global consensus

The drawbacks of strict global consensus

Ethereum L1 scaling roadmap

Ethereum L1 scaling roadmap

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polynya

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polynya

This blog is finished. All content on this blog and the previous blog (linked below) are CC0. Previous blog: https://polynya.medium.com/

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Stateless infra - where most decentralized compute will be (not blockchains)
Blog iconpolynya
Feb 10
Yes, yes, you have heard me rant and rave about strict global consensus and how it’s the only unique property of blockchains. But I have not talked much in the way of alternatives, because I consciously avoid talking about infra. Infra obsession and consumed the crypto space, to the point everything else is neglected. However, it occurs to me that it’s only blockchain infra, no one really talks about stateless infra - because there are no stateless infra bags to shill. So, I’m going to feel l...
Objectivity & subjectivity
Blog iconpolynya
Feb 8
Farcaster user @berghans asks, “I was wondering if you have any articles which go a bit more in depth into your usage of the terms subjectivity/objectivity? Cheers!”. Well, now, you do! As you might expect, how you define objectivity or subjectivity is… yes, you guessed is… subjective. But in the context of blockchains, we can be more precise. The key function of blockchains is achieving strict global consensus. However, this can only be done on a set of numbers and letters with some mathemat...
Does Vitalik's "decentralized stack" need strict global consensus?
Blog iconpolynya
Feb 3
I put “decentralized stack” in quotes because many of Vitalik’s suggestions are in reality significantly more centralized than the “Traditional stack”. The most egregious example is “DAOs”, for example. Almost all DAOs today are dystopian plutocracies where a handful of whales and VCs control everything. Even the ones trying to break free are light years away from traditional organisation structures - particularly cooperatives - which are infinitely more decentralized and democratic than any ...
Transaction quality trilemma - blockchain killers
Blog iconpolynya
Feb 2
In October 2021, I wrote a speculative post about the “transaction quality trilemma”. Since then, pretty much all chains have implemented a minimum fee in the $0.01-$0.50 range, but there are still some holdouts like Immutable X, Solana or Arbitrum Nova which gives us data. As you know, I don’t talk about scaling and infra anymore, and the stuff I wrote in 2021 is well understood and proven out, so I don’t need to write about them. I believe writing about applications, governance and diving d...
The drawbacks of strict global consensus
Blog iconpolynya
Feb 1
Strict global consensus is the only unique property enabled by public blockchains, but it has several drawbacks, so you should only leverage it if it’s essential for your application.It’s centralized: You’re relying on either a plutocracy and/or a corporatocracy for strict global consensus. Indeed, you need a fallback to make that acceptable, but this relies on rough consensus. So, it’s not really strict global consensus in those edge cases? Confused? Yes, that’s the drawback.Expensive: Even ...
How does strict global consensus work?
Blog iconpolynya
Jan 31
Let’s start with a simple database on your PC - only you can edit it. You want everyone to participate it instead, so you make it peer-to-peer. Of course, it ends up as a total mess, with people deleting what others have written. So, you make it append-only, so you cannot edit what has been before. But it’s still a complete mess. Now, you restrict who can append to it, and their additions need to be verified by everyone else, and now it finally makes some sense. This is consensus, but local c...
Are "chains just servers w/ superpowers"?
Blog iconpolynya
Jan 30
I came across a tweet by Hayden Adams. I was going to say, chains are servers with just one superpower - strict global consensus, but hey, I’ve already written about that. So, instead, let’s examine Hayden’s claims. First, let’s address the tweet being quoted, that “i cannot think of something that makes less fucking sense than a million rollups” - Today, “Web2” runs on >100,000,000 servers. “Web3” (““ because its a very silly meme) necessarily more inefficient. Even at the endgame state of Z...
Why most crypto assets are grotesquely overvalued
Blog iconpolynya
Jan 21
It’s actually simple and obvious, but I’ll spell it out - Crypto has found a vast majority of its product-market fit by $ value from being alternative or speculative store-of-value. This is why BTC is still dominant, 15 years in. ETH has also found monetary properties circa 2020. Both combined command over 75% of the market excluding stablecoins, and even higher in terms of liquidity. Tokens such as XRP and ADA have also found not-insignificant lasting demand. Over the years, people have had ...
Naturalisation councils
Blog iconpolynya
Jan 20
In a previous post about how tokenholder DAOs can move beyond plutocracy, I noted how something like OP Collective’s Citizen House has potential. However, it is faced with a stiff challenge - how does one onboard citizens? The problem is, of course, what makes a “citizen” is a highly subjective matter, and subjective matters need significant human input. At the end of the day, the value of a person’s contributions can only be judged by other people with expertise in the matter. It’s dangerous...
Custodial solutions are essential
Blog iconpolynya
Jan 12
Self-custody is understandably a big focus for crypto. While self-custody of assets has existed for millennia, public blockchains enable a digital form of self-custody. Significant progress has been made in improving self-custody, and continues to be made, but a vast majority of users have opted for custodial solutions. Choice is always great, and people choosing reputable CEXs need not be bullied - instead, we should offer better custodial solutions. Today, there are 2 dominant usecases for ...
Does your application need strict global consensus?
Blog iconpolynya
Jan 6
Over the last year and a bit, I have written extensively about blockchain applications in general, and strict global consensus in particular. While there’s certainly a niche audience interested in this topic, it’s unpopular, and I hadn’t seen anyone mention or talk about it. @randomishwalk said it best! I have written at this point over a dozen blog posts about this topic because I continue to believe it’s the most important in crypto currently. Infra and scaling is “solved” - with limitless ...
Ethereum L1 scaling roadmap
Blog iconpolynya
Dec 31
It pains me to write a post about infra at a time when a complete and utter obsession around infra and degeneracy is crippling the blockchain industry while infra remains largely underutilized, but I’ll allow myself one post in a couple of months to clear away significant misconceptions. Vitalik’s latest roadmap is very similar to last year’s. This is the first time a year has passed with the Ethereum roadmap remaining stable, suggesting we finally have an endgame in sight with a sustainable ...