🏁 [Analysis] Intent, complexity and the governance paradox — Bittorrent lessons for crypto - Simon Morris

Simon Morris, Bittorrent's former Chief Strategy Office, identifies these three issues as detrimental to decentralized system production: the consequences of project intent, the fundamental complexity of decentralized systems, and governance in a decentralized ecosystem. First, the intent of many decentralized projects today is breaking the law: Satoshi's white paper started the trend and now almost every ICO product launch has the same goal: skirting established systems. To Morris, this observation is a problem of navigation: one must stay true to the product, but also recognize the difficulties that can tag along like government oversight, VC frustrations, etc. The last two issues Morris points out, complexity and governance, deal strictly with the technology itself and team construction. Decentralized systems are complex, they are costly, and they tend to miss launch dates. Decentralized systems also lack good governance mechanisms. Once a team has released its product, controlling a product becomes near impossible and arguably paradoxical. Governors of decentralized systems must work under three assumptions: 1) the status quo is the safest place, 2) coordination on the market is difficult, and 3) the leader is subject to the most scrutiny. To Morris, these three problems are evergreen issues for decentralized businesses which demand attention and research.