I agree,
It is a very difficult topic.
I expect for now all witnesses ( maybe 90%) can be doxed by exchange with real names ( because of KYC). If big brother asks, they will answer IMO.
And if the first should get heavy problems, it becomes not super likely the next wave of people step instant in. Maybe some, but that's not cool for a web3 experience.
That's in theory a problem if hive has a lot of success and gets targeted. It could also be retarded argued it is security because those people run the chain. Not true but enough to add some pressure.
to change this, anon memes by default. Not perfect but most likely exchanges accept the default. Solves not the core problem, but particular.
Voting is really really difficult because of reputation and trust.
Maybe a witness becomes only the executing part. Like the witness, server does not receive the votes in the first place.
Votes go to the witness (proxy) and the witness can vote the server (witness).
Why? because it could adapt fast. But it's not a perfect solution for other security reasons.
Another idea could be a DAO witness server. Ran by elected people ( for the tech side with multi-sig). Doesn't need to be top 20. But would be an uncensorable backup. With 10 of them, it could work with shared access to some elected community people.
Then it becomes IMO more difficult because another layer is there that's more robust about pressure against singles.
Also not perfect, but the best thing I could imagine that could work in real.
I don't think hive would face anytime soon those problems, but it is most likely too late to react.
It's all theory and we will only see what happens if "the mad man" actions has for consequences.
Because ETH will most likely get the first hit and then Hive can adapt.
The next wave will just be more careful anons. The cost of running the witness server itself is not very high (helped a lot by optimizations since the Hive fork). Even if there isn't an easy way to cash out people will still do it to accumulate stake.
I don't think it needs to be instant. If there is a bit of downtime or slow block production due to missing witness slots, that's okay, the chain will still work/recover.
Good point!
Sure that wave will most likely never use the hive wallet. Any maybe runs by the same witnesses particular :D The question is, how will be the voting work?
"I'm here to save the chain" as an electing/voting plot can work, in a short term. But in a long run some kind of "reputation" in an anon way is needed :D
"Known Team" meets "trustful anon" :D
Btw, ETH merge will be a very interesting "project", because to be honest, the difference between centralized software and a blockchain becomes smaller and smaller :D
If the first transactions get rejected on a "blockchain" basis, the demand for uncensorable can become dramatic :)
What do you think about it? The transformation was obvious, but remember me every "ownership proof" on eth will be nothing more than an "ingame item" on a game that can be deleted anytime soon.
Or just make it matter less who the witnesses are. All that is really needed is to pack transactions and sign blocks (this is problematic right now because there is no incentive to actually include transactions in blocks). Voting on hard forks can be modified to work on the basis of direct stake voting, or in a manner better suited to anon witnesses (for example, witness can only change vote once per day, which means stakeholders can vote for a witness without needing to trust the witness to vote in a certain way).
The price feed is potentially problematic. I don't think that is really solvable without reputation.
Good point! And overall good ideas!
Price feed could maybe work with a cluster of connections to other witness price feeds that only allow xyz % difference. Otherwise, price feed becomes invalid.
like "get price" + " compare price".
If a block has an invalid price, it becomes the price (calculation) from the block after ( or before).
I mean that could work as long not all anons go full retard :D