Entrepreneurial Engineer Calvin Koepke, Advisor, Kora Labs, took to twitter to discuss the drawbacks of merging contingent staking (CS) into protocol. Originally claiming to be a “proponent of its merits,” Koepke now intends to refrain from promoting “contingent staking.”
Referring to his Twitter thread as “Cardano and the Age of Governance,” Koepke tweeted:
Koepke explains it is not about “facts vs. lies” for him, but the CS debate is an outcome of “loose governance.” It (CS) also flags the “first major disagreement within Cardano since the single and multi-pool debates of a couple years ago,” writes Koepke.
Earlier, it was also about “decentralization,” says Koepke, adding “how running multiple pools was a threat to that specific metric.” The central issue of concern in the two debates, per Koepke, revolves around a prime network state problem: “Unified morality, principles, and conviction.”
“A common foundation for participation,” is what “holds” a network state together, says Koepke. The participation, whilst sharing a common ground in democracy, “lives within a spectrum the same way citizen A votes while citizen B runs for office,” adds Koepke.
Cardano, Koepke says, still needs this “common ground,” that it “has not been laid.” Stating that its presence is “loosely imparted by core founders (particularly @IOHK_Charles ),” Koepke highlights that its ethos, its Manifesto, and its Constitution are yet to be “written and ratified.”
Koepke goes on to state that “a diverse group of individuals from all over the world has assembled to try and build “a network state in itself.” Koepke cautions that “two primary goals of Cardano” (mass adoption and first principles) are clashing.
He says he is not in favor of “dividing the community of Cardano” for a “parameter update that may be just fine to implement.” He reportedly believes that Cardano is well-off without CS, that it could still open new innovation avenues for SPOs. He says it can also “cause a community-driven fork in the chain.”
Koepke clarifies he would not vote if given an “opportunity” to vote today for ICS, as he thinks the strengths of a network lies in its “common social enterprise,” including the first principles. Koepke reportedly believes that “actionable steps” are required for a thriving “decentralized ideal of governance.”
Noting that Voltaire is “the era to create a Constitution,” Koepke would “come back to CS later,” but would not “compromise our unity.”
