Thoughts of the Ethereum Founder: Key Evaluation Tools for Decentralization Projects

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin discussed important issues regarding decentralization and security in his blog post. He proposed two testing methods to evaluate the degree of decentralization and security of a system: "leave test" and "internal attack test."

"Internal Attack Testing" refers to actively launching attacks on the system to observe potential harm, thereby discovering potential vulnerabilities. "Exit Testing," on the other hand, is an innovative thinking tool used to assess the degree of dependence of a project on centralized infrastructure. It can serve as a key indicator for evaluating decentralized projects and may even further develop into a risk rating tool.

The Core Concept of "Leaving the Test"

The core question of "leaving the test" is: If the project team and server suddenly disappear, can the application still operate normally? This test aims to assess whether Web3 projects, platforms, or protocols possess true independent operational capabilities and sustainable development value.

From multiple aspects such as project development, economic model, and community governance, "leaving the test" can trigger a series of in-depth reflections:

• Can the project continue to operate after the development team is disbanded?
• Is there an active community that can take over the project?
• Is the project code open source and able to attract developers for ongoing improvements?
• Are there decentralized verification nodes or sufficient community support to maintain the network?
• Does the project have a sustainable economic model and application scenarios?
• Does the appreciation of assets in the project overly rely on speculation or centralized control?
• Do all participants have a fair way to participate in decision-making?
• Can the project initiate decision-making mechanisms and solve problems in the absence of core managers?
• Does the project's governance overly rely on a few core members, or does it have a broad basis for collective decision-making?

The Importance of "Leaving the Test"

If a project overly relies on the founding team or specific key personnel to operate, or if a network must depend on fixed servers to process data, then it is essentially still centralized. Such projects or networks may face issues regarding long-term viability, value, resistance to censorship, and risk resilience.

The importance of "Leaving the Test" lies in its ability to reveal the actual degree of a project's or network's reliance on centralized infrastructure, thereby facilitating effective improvements. The technological philosophical foundation behind this thinking tool is a firm belief in Decentralization.

Vitalik Buterin once pointed out that when discussing the issue of Decentralization, there are actually three independent dimensions involved:

1. Degree of Decentralization of the Architecture
2. Degree of political Decentralization
3. The degree of logical decentralization

He also emphasized the three major advantages of Decentralization: fault tolerance, resistance to attacks, and the ability to prevent collusion.

"Leaving Test" as an Evaluation Tool

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 develop relying on a decentralized network and global developers.

In the Ethereum ecosystem, Vitalik Buterin once mentioned that most Rollup projects are still immature and rely on auxiliary measures such as "Training Wheels" to ensure operation. This reflects the dependency of Rollup projects on human intervention, and the higher the degree of dependence, the greater the risk.

Based on this idea, the community has developed a Layer 2 risk rating index to assess the risk levels of different Layer 2 projects. This rating method can be extended to a broader Web3 field to evaluate the actual degree of decentralization and sustainability capabilities of various decentralized applications.

Vitalik Buterin stated that he hopes to see more entities like L2beat emerge, which can track the actual performance of various projects in meeting established standards or other criteria proposed by the community. He believes that competition between projects should be based on clear and understandable standards, rather than relying on the "right circle of friends".

From a more macro perspective, "leaving the test" can develop into a comprehensive risk rating tool used to measure the actual degree of decentralization and long-term development potential of various decentralized applications such as Web3 wallets, games, and DeFi.

This idea echoes the theory of separation of powers in political philosophy. In the blockchain world, achieving true Decentralization relies on the institutional and cultural foundation of consensus standards, rather than just simple project alliances.