A New Approach to Evaluating Decentralized Projects: "Leave the Test" Proposed by the Founder of Ethereum

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin proposed an interesting concept in a blog post - "Leaving the Test". This test aims to evaluate the authenticity and sustainability of decentralized projects, with the core question being: If the project team and servers suddenly disappear, will the application still function normally?

This testing method is closely related to the decentralization and autonomy concepts of blockchain, involving multiple aspects:

1. Project Development:

   • Can the project operate independently after the team disbands?
   • Is there an active community to take over the project?
   • Is the code open source and able to attract developers for continuous improvement?
   • Are there decentralized validation nodes or sufficient community support to maintain the network?

2. Economic Model:

   • Does the project have a sustainable operational model and application scenarios?
   • Does asset appreciation depend on speculation or centralization?

3. Community Governance:

   • Do participants have a fair way to participate in decision-making?
   • Is it possible to initiate a decision-making mechanism without a core manager?
   • Is governance overly reliant on a small number of core members?

The importance of "leaving the test" lies in revealing the degree of a project's dependence on centralized infrastructure, promoting project improvement, with the core idea being firm decentralization.

Vitalik Buterin once pointed out that when discussing Decentralization, there are actually three independent aspects involved:

1. Architecture: How many computers make up the system? What is its fault tolerance capability?
2. Politics: How many individuals or organizations can ultimately control the system?
3. Logic: Is the system interface and data structure a single entity? Can the user and provider operate independently?

The advantages of Decentralization include:

• Improve fault tolerance
• Enhance attack resistance
• Prevent collusion

From the perspective of "leaving the test," Bitcoin is considered to have passed the test, because even though the identity of its founder is unknown, the network can still rely on decentralization and global developers to continue to evolve.

For Layer 2 solutions in the Ethereum ecosystem, Vitalik Buterin proposed a risk rating method based on "Training Wheels" dependency levels. This method was later adopted and upgraded by the L2beat website into a Layer 2 risk rating index.

Vitalik Buterin hopes to see more entities like L2beat emerge to track the compliance of various projects with established standards. He believes that competition between projects should be based on clear and understandable criteria, rather than "having the right friends."

From a broader perspective, "leaving the test" can evolve into a risk rating tool for assessing the substance and sustainability of various decentralized applications such as Web3 wallets, games, and DeFi.

This evaluation method reflects a political philosophy idea: to address the issue of "who supervises whom," the best solution is the separation of powers rather than centralization. In the blockchain world, this separation is achieved through consensus standards.