Questions about EOS Block Producer Independence
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Recently we’ve been asking a lot of questions as a block producer candidate. Such as:
- Should Block Producers be allowed to own parts of other Block Producer?
- Who Should Safeguard the EOS code Repository?
- Should Block Producers have a disclaimer on Voter Portals they sponsor?
We believe there is value in asking questions and taking a socratic method toward launching the EOS Network and the constitution that will govern it. The EOS Network deserves block producers who will rally to ask the hard questions we are all thinking, and to represent the EOS network values.
We respect the sincere effort made on part of many of the other Block Producer Candidates to work together so closely, and because of this effort it has made it easy to pose these questions we keep asking.
We recently began a discussion inside of many of Block Producer chat rooms, regarding a current proposal that owners in Block Producers are allowed to own 9.99% of other Block Producers. We have been opposed to this proposal and are now asking the community for their opinions.
Why is owning any portion of another Block Producers bad?
- When Block Producers own portions of other Block Producers, they are financially incentivized to collude.
- Having shared ownership removes the independence of Block Producers, which is crucial for the long term health of the EOS network. For example, if 7 Block Producers own portions of each other, they effectively become 1 large Block Producer with a disproportionate amount of power relative to the other independent BPs.
- This financial incentive to keep other BPs in power has corrupted other DPoS networks such as Lisk, and resulted in BP cartels such as Lisk Elite who cannot be voted out by the community.
- If 7 BPs collude, they can block any arbitration ruling or constitutional amendments and effectively stifle the entire chain.
Now is the time for us to discuss all possible scenarios and safeguard against them. We hope the EOS Community including the Voters and Block Producers understand and join us in our position to question everything in due diligence to the EOS Network and Community.
Many Block Producers have already confirmed they agree with our stance; however many have not. Below is a list of all Block Producers who agree that Block Producers should be independent and not own any portion of any other Block Producer:
links coming soon
We are asking the EOS community to take part in the discussion by communicating on Twitter and in Telegramto their Block Producer candidates how they feel on this issue.
If the community would like to organize a more formal voting process on this topic we support that as well. Block Producer Candidates please comment below or tweetand we will add you're name and website link to the list above.
EOStheWorld.io believes that any entity, be it a person, family, company, investor, stakeholder, or relative of such a person or company, should be involved in one block producer team only. Failure to divulge such a conflict should be a violation of the Constitution.
Keep bringing up concerns like this, it is of utmost importance that we as a community launch and govern EOS blockchain in the most transparent and uncorruptable way possible. Blockchain has the power to revolutionize the world and provide better quality of life for billions of people.
However we will never see the true fruition or benefits of blockchain if we can't set up an uncorruptable governance model that protects the blockchain.
Thank you for the input and support. Looking forward to launching this week!
We at Blocksmith take a very strong stance on these issues and have been very vocal about our position from the beginning. We have pledged to be 100% independent of any other entities in the EOS ecosystem. While we understand that this is not something that all Block Producer candidates agree with, we believe it is in the best interest of the EOS community.
To answer your specific questions:
Should Block producers be allowed to own parts of other Block producers?
Absolutely not. We believe it is fundamentally important that BP’s remain independent of each other to maintain decentralization within the EOS ecosystem.
Who should safeguard the EOS code repository?
We support the EOS Foundation that is being planned. There have also been certain individuals in the community who are not running for Block producer but have been instrumental in shaping this community. We certainly would welcome one or more of these stewards to take on this very important role.
Should Block producers have a disclaimer on Voter Portals the sponsor?
We think BP’s should disclose all relationships with DApps (including voting portals) and other entities as many of these can present conflict of interests, whether intentional or unintentional.
We thank CypherGlass for bringing up these important issues and hope that the conversation continues.
Thank you for your response and support. We will add you to the list with the first update!
We published our policy positions here: https://steemit.com/eos/@cryptolions/crypto-lions-policy-positions-and-code-of-conduct
They were pretty exhaustive, covering all the questions of the day — but that was a month ago, and the questions of the day have cahnged.
There's a potential conflict of interest here. BPs should be public about it to avoid the perception of wrong doing. Crypto Lions does not do this.
Also, this would violate the BP Agreement: https://forums.eosgo.io/discussion/comment/1572
So the answer is an emphatic NO.
We are happy to see many people doing this. It seems like the newly forming EOS Foundation will do this as well and play a major role.
I don't think that's necessary as long as they don't bias the portal in any way.
Kyle (The Awakenment) raised this point in the original EOSGO forum post; https://forums.eosgo.io/discussion/922/block-producer-agreement-discussion-thread (See 10th comment down).
EOSVibes is completely self-funded by its Team Members and we have no stake(s) in any other BP Candidate, nor does any BP Candidate or Financial Institution have any stake(s) in EOSVibes.
https://www.eosvibes.io/how-we-are-organized.html
https://steemit.com/eosvibes/@eosvibes/eosvibes-position-on-dividends
https://steemit.com/eosvibe/@eosvibes/eosvibes-block-producer-candidate-roadmap-community-update
Investments between BP's?, who made the propossal and why?. The tokens rewarded for Producing Blocks are not enough payment?
I would like to know the stance of all the BP candidates regarding this questions so i can give a good use of my vote :)
to trust on eos i demand transparency and accountability! :)
is the genesis block going to have the constitution engraved on it ? :D
Grab your pants. Launch is on this week!
Thank you for your input and support. Comment here in the EOS Go Forum to make sure the BPCs see it. https://forums.eosgo.io/discussion/1037/questions-about-eos-block-producer-independence/p1?new=1
We see collusion between BPs as the biggest weakness of DPOS and therefore prefer not to allow any stake in more than 1 BP. That is a much clearer rule than 10% is OK (Current BP Agreement proposal, point 15)
Thank you for the response we will add you to the list with the first update!
Thanks for bringing up these concerns.
[1.] Should Block Producers be allowed to own parts of other Block Producer?
Definitely there is a conflict of interests in owning parts of other BPs. EOS Lithuania is for independent BPs only with very clear financial transparency.
[2.] Who Should Safeguard the EOS code Repository?
There was a proposal of a so called EOS Foundation. We think there has to be a comity of independent community members watching for the repository.
[3.] Should Block Producers have a disclaimer on Voter Portals they sponsor?
We think that voter portals have to be independent from BPs and other interested parties. All the BPs have commitments to bring needed EOS tools to community, so sponsoring a voting portal should not give any advantage to sponsoring BPs.
Thank you for your input and response guys! We will include you on the list in the first update