Hey all!

I'm back to share more of my thoughts on blockchain governance, this time, through the lens of Tezos. Remember my last post, in which I introduced you to the idea of a griefing mechanism, as well as on-chain governance?

The idea of having griefing/staking together on a blockchain network is one of my favorites for a good reason. 

Globally, we have all sorts of fraud plaguing every industry, including fake news. 

A dual griefing/staking mechanism can change that. 

Consider Tezos, which I've discussed before and will discuss time and time again. It's revolutionary because of three key points, which are:

•  It uses formal verification to give developers another layer of security before they launch any sort of smart contract, even on a testnet.
• It represents one of the only working examples of fully on-chain governance in practice.
• Finally, it represents the only fully functional example of a "self-amending ledger," in practice

Despite all of this, I believe Tezos could be even better. 

What if, as I suggested, it added a griefing mechanism to its already working staking system?

How might that look in practice?

Let's say that the Tezos improvement proposal process included it. Now, when someone puts forth their idea about how to change the Tezos network, they could stake coins on that idea. This staking would be understood to represent a vote of confidence in the viability of their proposal, since they now have "skin in the game." Skin in the game, in case you're not familiar with the idea, was popularized by the author Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and refers to the idea that people are more likely to act honestly if they have something to lose for doing the opposite(primarily money). 

Knowing this, you can think of griefing as "skin in the game on the blockchain." Depending on the protocol it's tied to, it can play out in a number of ways, all of which relate to users losing their stake for going against the network's rules/values. 

Since Tezos is a truly community-driven network, I thought I'd bring this to light.

Over time, I'd like to look into griefing even further and propose specific instances in which it might be used on Tezos and other networks, like, for example, in matching mentors to less-experienced professionals. Until then, thanks for reading and feel free to share your ideas of how griefing might be implemented with future blockchain driven products and services. 

Finally, remember, tips keep me going! Remember that you can always connect with me on Twitter @ExpatCrypto3.

- Expat

(This was a quick thought that I felt I needed to get out. I appreciate all of you who read my posts and remember, I'll be posting more formal content in the future on my site at blockdemiclab.com)

(To my knowledge, as of now, griefing has only been implemented with Numerai's Erasure Bay.)