The Balance and Consistency of the Ethereum Ecosystem

In the Ethereum ecosystem, balance is a crucial governance challenge, especially in seeking equilibrium between decentralization and collaboration. The advantage of this ecosystem lies in its wide range of participants, including client teams, researchers, layer two network teams, application developers, and local community groups, all of whom are striving for their own vision of Ethereum. The main challenge is to ensure that all projects work together to build a unified Ethereum ecosystem, rather than forming numerous incompatible independent domains.

To address this challenge, many within the ecosystem have proposed the concept of "Ethereum Consistency." This includes value consistency (such as open source, minimizing centralization, and supporting public goods), technical consistency (such as collaborating with standards across the ecosystem), and economic consistency (such as using ETH as the token whenever possible). However, this concept has historically been vaguely defined, which may lead to the risk of social control: if consistency merely means maintaining good relations with a specific group, then the concept of "consistency" loses its meaning.

To solve this problem, we should refine the concept of consistency, breaking it down into specific attributes that can be measured through concrete indicators. Each person's list of indicators may vary, and these indicators may also change over time. However, we already have some reliable starting points:

1. Open-source: This point is important for two reasons: first, the code can be inspected to ensure security; second, and more importantly, it reduces the risk of proprietary lock-in, allowing third parties to make improvements without permission. Not every part of every application needs to be fully open-source, but the core infrastructure components that the ecosystem relies on definitely should be.

2. Open Standards: Committed to achieving interoperability with the Ethereum ecosystem and building on open standards, whether existing or in development. If existing standards do not adequately meet needs, collaborate with others to develop new standards.

3. Decentralization and Security: Avoid trust points, minimize censorship vulnerabilities, and reduce reliance on centralized infrastructure. This can be evaluated through "leave testing" and internal attack testing.

4. Collaborative Thinking: The success of the project should benefit the entire Ethereum community while also making a positive contribution to the broader world. This includes using ETH as a token, contributing to open-source technologies, and committing to donate a portion of the profits to public goods, among other things.

These standards do not apply to every project, and different types of projects may require different metrics. Over time, priorities may also change. Ideally, we would like to see more entities like L2beat emerge to track the performance of various projects in meeting these standards.

By clarifying the definition of "merit", we can achieve a fairer and more inclusive ecosystem management. This not only helps organizations like the Ethereum Foundation to support and participate in the ecosystem while maintaining neutrality, but also provides the entire community with a clearer direction, making the concept of consistency more effective and equitable.