This article is written in response to Raul's Polkadot-Kusama Alliance Pact: Disallowing Any Bridging to Rival Relay Chains. The goal here is to keep Polkadot's ecosystem focused, avoid free-rider issue, and encourage interoperability. In the mean time, we want to avoid any unnecessary polarization, making of enemies, or things against the open source culture. Instead of declaring what is disallowed (in this particular case, "rival relay chains"), we define a principle to specify what is encouraged. This can hopefully address the focus on negativity in the original proposal, and put everything in a more positive, widely-acceptable manner.
The principle of least number of relay chains is a derivative of the following two basic principles.
- Simplicity. If an additional infrastructure is not needed, but an existing infrastructure can be used without drawbacks, then we should keep using the existing infrastructure. If we do not really need to create a new relay chain, then we should not.
- Interoperability. Blockchains should be connected. If something can be connected to an existing relay chain, then we should connect to it instead of creating a new relay chain.
The principle of simplicity and interoperability implies that we should minimize the number of relay chains in the ecosystem, and do not spend resources to unnecessarily create new ones if it's not needed.
If the principle is approved by council, council members will raise awareness in the community why they think the principle is important for the Polkadot ecosystem. Upon reviewing tips, spending proposals, bounties or other mechanisms, council members will review them according to the principle of least number of relay chains. The council may also lead or support initiatives that advance this principle, in order to provide a more healthy ecosystem for Polkadot.
The principle focuses on cooperation and interoperability. As a result, it does not want to eliminate existing relay chains (like Ethereum), but on the contrary, work with them when the time is approriate. The principle of least number of relay chains is practical in that it mainly focuses on new, unnecessary relay chains, but not existing ones.
Authored by Wei Tang. This document is released into public domain. Attribution is appreciated, but not required.