Guest Talk with Jesse Walden | Contract Theory and Protocol Design

TalkJesse WaldenJune 21, 2023

Jesse Walden (Variant VC, co-founder of Media Chain) presents a framework derived from Oliver Hart's contract theory, distinguishing 'complete' protocols (simple, deterministic, trust-minimized, automated — e.g. Bitcoin, Uniswap v1) from 'incomplete' protocols that require ongoing human governance and interpretation (e.g. Aave, Nouns DAO, MolochDAO's rage-quit mechanism). He argues many crypto projects fall into an 'uncanny valley' by claiming completeness/decentralization they don't actually have, and points to Uniswap v4's hooks as a hybrid model that automates a complete core while delegating customization to the market. Discussion with Tim, Angela Walch, and others explores whether true completeness is ever attainable, the role of tokens as 'economic alignment' products, and regulatory incentives (SEC's 'sufficient decentralization') that pressure projects to overclaim completeness.

Topics

complete-vs-incomplete-protocols contract-theory-oliver-hart governance guest-talks protocols rage-quit-governance-mechanism sufficient-decentralization technology uniswap-v4-hooks

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