Research Summary
This report discusses the disagreement between MakerDAO founder Rune and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin over the use of the Solana codebase for MakerDAO’s new blockchain, NewChain. The report also explores the potential reasons behind Vitalik’s disapproval and his suggestions for Reflexer, a decentralized stablecoin project he supports.
Key Takeaways
MakerDAO’s NewChain and Solana Codebase
- MakerDAO’s NewChain: Rune, the founder of MakerDAO, has expressed a preference for using the Solana codebase for its new, stand-alone blockchain, NewChain. This blockchain is intended to recover from severe governance attacks or technical failures and deal with the technical debt in the protocol.
- Reasons for Choosing Solana: Rune believes that Solana’s code technology stack, resilience, and examples of being forked and adapted to act as appchains make it the most promising codebase for NewChain. Solana’s efficiency and lower maintenance cost compared to Cosmos also influenced this decision.
- Impact on Users: Despite the backend changes, all user-facing products and systems will remain on Ethereum, L2s, or other large blockchains and will be connected to NewChain through advanced bridges.
Vitalik’s Disapproval and Suggestions
- Vitalik’s Disapproval: Vitalik sold his MKR holdings following Rune’s announcement, expressing his disagreement with MakerDAO’s NewChain strategy. He criticized MakerDAO for “torpedoing itself in weird directions.”
- Vitalik’s Suggestions for Reflexer: Vitalik encouraged Reflexer to be more active in governance to support staked ETH and gain a market share in the stablecoin subdivision that MakerDAO originally occupied. He suggested that Reflexer could support other niche ETH collateral tokens to compete with MakerDAO.
- Conflict of Ideals: Vitalik’s disapproval is likely due to a clash of ideals, particularly Rune’s pursuit of hard forking, which Vitalik sees as a way to address severe governance attacks or technical failures.
Actionable Insights
- Understanding the Implications: Stakeholders should understand the implications of MakerDAO’s decision to use the Solana codebase for its new blockchain, including its potential impact on governance and technical failures.
- Monitoring Reflexer’s Actions: Observers should monitor Reflexer’s actions in response to Vitalik’s suggestions, as this could influence the dynamics of the stablecoin market.
- Assessing the Impact of Ideological Differences: The ideological differences between key figures in the blockchain space, such as Rune and Vitalik, can have significant impacts on the direction and strategies of projects. Stakeholders should consider these differences when making decisions.
