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Alex Gluchowski, the driving force behind Matter Labs, has pitched an innovative idea: the creation of a court system within the Ethereum blockchain. Inspired by the United States' judicial system, this Ethereum-based court would serve as the last resort for settling disputes related to smart contracts, eliminating the need for conventional legal representation.
Gluchowski believes that the primary role of this court system would be to shield the protocols from external political interference. Such a mechanism would also strengthen Ethereum's standing as a robust network, he claims. The idea involves a structured, on-chain judiciary where an Ethereum layer-1 soft fork would function as the highest appellate court.
Under this framework, each protocol on the Ethereum network would maintain its own governance systems, featuring both routine and emergency upgrade protocols. Additionally, each would have a specific contract capable of initiating an appeal process. Should an emergency upgrade occur, users can lodge a challenge against it during a designated appeal period. However, challengers would need to post a predetermined deposit as bail.
Gluchowski outlined that cases would typically begin in lower-tier courts like CourtUnchained or JusticeDAO, specific to certain protocols like Aave and Uniswap. If unsatisfied with the outcome, parties could elevate the dispute to the Ethereum Supreme Court.
However, Gluchowski accepts that the effectiveness of this system hinges on social consensus within the Ethereum community. Furthermore, taking a case to this digital Supreme Court wouldn't be cheap. The cost would ensure that only genuinely significant cases get escalated, meriting the attention of the broader Ethereum community.
Current methods for resolving disputes within smart contracts have limitations, Gluchowski argued. Time-locked features are impractical during emergencies, and a security council approach can only offer temporary solutions and comes with its own risks.
Gluchowski, who also leads the development of an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution called zkSync, expressed willingness to fund research that would further develop this court system concept.
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