Ethereum has had many discussions over its lifetime on how to proceed with its development, but one of the biggest ones has always been the recovery of lost or stuck funds. This discussion has heated up recently as the result of EIP 867 (introduction of ERPs) and EIP 999 (restore contract code of Parity WalletLibrary contract which was destroyed), but the discussion has been mostly limited to the Ethereum community.
However, I think the discussion of these two EIPs has ramifications far beyond just Ethereum. The debate over these EIPs includes topics such as:
- Decentralization
- Immutability
- Changes at the protocol level vs the application level
- Cryptoasset governance
These factors are critical for ALL public blockchains. The general community, both in social media and on Github / Ethereum Magicians, appear to be against any EIPs relating to recovery. The reasons often quoted include:
- Sacrificing Immutability
- Providing too much power / responsibility to EIP editors
- Sets precedent which can lead to slippery slope (what do we allow to be recovered?)
- Sets precedent of too big to fail
- Bad code should have bad consequences
- Changes shouldn't be made at protocol level
- Many more - Check discussion links
The video includes details about what an EIP is, what these two particular EIPs are, and my overall opinion. Personally I am in favor of EIP 999 as I think it is undeniably an exception (due to both the amount and people involved), but am uncertain about EIP 867. EIP 867 will mostly benefit businesses who develop on top of Ethereum (in my opinion), which is excellent, but like many others, I am concerned of how it would turn out in practice.
What are your thoughts?
Links:
EIP Description: https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/blob/master/EIPS/eip-1.md
EIP 867: https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/blob/master/EIPS/eip-867.md
EIP 999: https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/blob/master/EIPS/eip-999.md
EIP 867 (Discussion): https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/eip-867-standardized-ethereum-recovery-proposals-erps/139
EIP 999 (Discussion): https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/eip-999-restore-contract-code-at-0x863df6bfa4/130