Ethereum [ETH] foundation member takes a step forward for better governance

Ethereum [ETH], the second largest cryptocurrency and a leading smart contract platform, was recently in the news over concerns surrounding its governance. As a means to find a solution to the problems brought up by the community, Eva Beylin, a member of the Ethereum Foundation, created an unofficial survey to gauge the community sentiment on Ethereum’s governance.

Recently, Lane Rettig, one of the core developers of Ethereum, claimed that “Ethereum governance has failed”, on his official Twitter handle. He had stated,

“We are a de facto technocracy, where a small group of technocrats, the core devs, have final say over what goes into the protocol. But the challenges we face today are increasingly non-technical. Core devs don’t want to make these decisions because they feel unqualified, fear legal liability […]”

This was followed by Rettig suggesting five options Ethereum could opt for towards bettering Ethereum’s governance. The first was to take a path similar to Bitcoin, give up on governing Ethereum altogether. By going the Bitcoin way, Ethereum would no longer make “hard decisions”, its protocol would also “not evolve”, and its progress would be “slow”, he stated.

“2. Replace technocracy with plutocracy. Ether holders would be all too happy to take control of decision making. 3.Double down on the tyranny of structurelessness that we’re in today. Give up on technocracy, embrace capture by the elites, the well-connected, the already-powerful.”

The fourth point was to acknowledge the fact that decentralized governance did not really work, and “give up on Ethereum”. The fifth was to acknowledge that decentralized governance did not work just yet, adding that this could be solved someday. He further stated that it was better to shift back to centralized governance, introducing transparency, accountability and ensuring clean governance.

This statement created an uproar in the Ethereum community, with some speaking up against the points made by Rettig. Now, Eva Beylin stated the survey was created in order to have deeper understanding into the community’s “view on Ethereum governance”.

She said on Twitter,

“Incentives to participate: Provide diverse community perspectives Contribute to accurate sentiment analysis (better signal to noise) communicate views anonymously The goal is to get broad input, incl. devs, miners, investors, community etc. RT for visibility!”

This survey could also be used for the future governance of the ecosystem and also take the necessary steps while making decisions. The survey has a total of sixty-seven questions, with these questions surrounding the community member’s demographics, their role in the Ethereum community, Ethereum governance, and governance mechanisms.