3 ms·

This is an overly theoretical description of a single potential benefit of web3. How many people—even very technically skilled ones—read smart contracts in the

This is an overly theoretical description of a single potential benefit of web3. How many people—even very technically skilled ones—read smart contracts in their entirety? Launching a crowdfunding platform backed by a smart contract should give it zero credibility by itself. Unfortunately, we popularized the idea that a smart contract equals zero trust equals you can actually trust it. None of which is true. We moved even further away from that with upgradable contracts. Where is zero trust there? Yesterday’s Solend disgrace is a very clear proof of that.

TimJRobinson 4y ago
It's exactly the same as Linux and open source software. I have never read the kernel source code, but I trust it way more than windows because I know others have read it and not reported any secret backdoors or exploits.
- finfinfin 4y ago
  That’s not exactly the same. How can a user tell who and when (i.e. which version of an upgradeable contract) has reviewed this particular contract? Linux core has a long history and a ton of processes around introducing changes. When I visit a crowdfunding web3 website there is none of that.
  - TimJRobinson 4y ago
    The contracts are immutable once deployed. There are proxy contracts that allow for upgrading but the highest quality teams usually fix them after a while to guarantee they won't change. The sites are often all on IPFS to also have hashed content, or are open source so you can run the frontend yourself.
  - prohobo 4y ago
    People are working on auditing services for smart contracts and web3 apps, but it's slow going. Considering the behavior of the current community I totally understand your skepticism toward the technology itself. It hasn't really proven itself useful or safe for anything but a few use cases, and the only thing it really has going for it is the theory and the core development. Fixes and new features are slowly being added to the tech to make trustless services possible. The criticism that web3 - even if it did work properly - turns literally everything into a token-based speculative market is accurate. I think it's an emergent property of the technology that isn't good for anyone, and it's bad enough that it might be worth ditching completely.

TimJRobinson 4y ago

It's exactly the same as Linux and open source software. I have never read the kernel source code, but I trust it way more than windows because I know others have read it and not reported any secret backdoors or exploits.

finfinfin 4y ago
That’s not exactly the same. How can a user tell who and when (i.e. which version of an upgradeable contract) has reviewed this particular contract? Linux core has a long history and a ton of processes around introducing changes. When I visit a crowdfunding web3 website there is none of that.
- TimJRobinson 4y ago
  The contracts are immutable once deployed. There are proxy contracts that allow for upgrading but the highest quality teams usually fix them after a while to guarantee they won't change. The sites are often all on IPFS to also have hashed content, or are open source so you can run the frontend yourself.
- prohobo 4y ago
  People are working on auditing services for smart contracts and web3 apps, but it's slow going. Considering the behavior of the current community I totally understand your skepticism toward the technology itself. It hasn't really proven itself useful or safe for anything but a few use cases, and the only thing it really has going for it is the theory and the core development. Fixes and new features are slowly being added to the tech to make trustless services possible. The criticism that web3 - even if it did work properly - turns literally everything into a token-based speculative market is accurate. I think it's an emergent property of the technology that isn't good for anyone, and it's bad enough that it might be worth ditching completely.