Metis' decentralized sorter is more than just a "technical narrative".

Haotian

24-01-11 15:00

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Original author: Haotian

Editor's note: Metis is an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution developed based on Optimistic Rollup. It is expected to become the first decentralized sequencer of Optimistic Rollup this year. Regarding Metis' decentralized sequencer, cryptocurrency researcher Haotian published his interpretation on X, and BlockBeats has compiled the full text below:

Many people believe that @MetisDAO's decentralized sorter is just a "technical narrative" generated by Rollup's internal circulation. After reading Co-Founder @kevinliub's magnificent article, it becomes clear that it is far from being that simple.

Originally, decentralized Sequencer was just the beginning of unleashing the potential of Rollup Layer2. Our vision of Layer2 native DeFi and ecological explosion all depend on this. Why? Let me explain my understanding.

1) Decentralized Sequencer was initially the core narrative of almost all Layer2 Rollups, but some mainstream comprehensive Rollups, such as Optimism and zkSync, have "stalled" in terms of decentralization for various reasons.

Take OP as an example, it has already captured the vast majority of the market share, and the OP Stack strategy has also been very successful. At this time, rashly promoting the decentralized Sequencer will bring potential crises and challenges to the overall Layer2 ecosystem, such as MEV and node misconduct. Therefore, it is reasonable to temporarily stagnate the decentralized narrative in the name of optimism. On the other hand, Metis, as a new and rising player in Layer2, does not have the ecological burden of Optimism. From 0 to 1, it can promote decentralization from the root and make it the foundation for the future development of the ecosystem.

2) The decentralization of Sequencer is just the appetizer, and the main course is the decentralized construction of Tokenomics economic model. Simply put, by endowing Layer2 Token with basic Gas fee utility use cases, Layer2 Tokens play a role in the decentralization incentive process of Sequencer, the empowerment stage of ecological construction, and the construction of Layer2 native DeFi building.

Although the original route of using ETH as the Layer2 Gas Token is more in line with the political orthodoxy of layer2, this would make Layer2's Token purely a governance Token, unable to generate value in the actual economic structure and continuously empower the Token itself. Only the use case of governance and voting is obviously unable to support everyone's expectations of the value of Layer2 Token.

Two years ago, Metis used $Metis as Gas Token, which seemed like an "unconventional" innovation at the time, but actually contained a Long-Term plan for the Layer2 economic model. For example, people criticized that Layer2 did not have native DeFi. If a new chain circulates only the Wrapped version of the main chain Token, it can only enjoy the overflow effect of the main chain liquidity, but lacks the explosive power of native DeFi.

3) Don't think that making a decentralized sequencer and gas token on Layer2 is easy. On the one hand, it will bring MEV problems to Layer2. When the sequencer is centralized, the space for MEV is small, but after the decentralized base is built, MEV will inevitably become a challenge. How to actively and effectively solve this problem is a big challenge, and it is necessary to find incentive measures based on MEV-Boost like Ethereum does with MEV Router, while eliminating the negative impact of MEV on the Layer2 ecosystem.

On the other hand, when Layer2 tokens become utility tokens, a direct challenge is the subsequent ecological continuation. Just like the DeFi on Ethereum mainnet has evolved from staking to restaking, the premise for the DeFi building to soar is staking. It is crucial to encourage Sequencer nodes and numerous projects that have received grants to regard incentive tokens as the starting point for building a brand new native DeFi (not for mining and selling), and to participate in ecological construction together to expand the "pie".

If you carefully observe the Metis ecosystem, you will find that @TheHerculesDEX, which creates innovative derivative DEX, and @ENKIProtocol, which creates LSD, are all new faces. However, for a Layer2 platform with a solid foundation token, these DeFi infrastructures may release the key to the development of Layer2 native DeFi, and these are far from enough. There will definitely be more potential ecological projects emerging.

Overall, it is not difficult to see that decentralizing Sequencer and relinquishing power is just the beginning. The real challenge lies in how to coordinate the interests of all parties in the ecosystem, how to actively encourage participants to build rather than passively speculate, and how to build a stable and persistent Layer2 DeFi ecosystem based on native tokens.

Let Layer2 truly become the "extension" layer that brings new forces such as users and ecology to the main network, rather than just an accessory choice for Airdrop Hunters.