Bochka

I am not in support of an EVM “system”chain. But I do support ideas close to it and think we should experiment. I will clarify my position. The term System Chain has a very specific meaning: enshrined functionality which the community has decided the system cannot function without and will operate at the (opportunity) cost of any other possible user of that coretime. EVM does not fit that definition for me. It’s a nice-to-have and a business opportunity. I would be in support of a free market DOT-native EVM chain which uses DOT governance, and which buys coretime using fees gathered from transactions in the open market. The rest of the fees would be remitted to the Polkadot Treasury. With a “founder’s reward” akin to Zcash to give the developer access to asymmetric upside. The challenge here is in bootstrapping. I could also be convinced of governance sponsoring or subsidizing some coretime or other investment for this chain as one type of investment in future growth. Some of my mental model for considering this proposal: 1. The value captured by the relay chain coretime purchases is decided on the margin: the price of coretime is based on aggregate demand, not the usage of any one chain. Therefore this investment should be scrutinized based on metrics mostly other than coretime usage. In particular, developer and user growth. 2. If OpenGov is paying for coretime or operations, it should be receiving something. In the words of @agyle: “imperfect goods, imperfect prices”. Polkadot is being pitched lower friction, and therefore growth for users and developers with this initiative. Therefore, coretime should only be sponsored to the extent that growth metrics are strong after a grace/startup period. An additional stipend could be paid for particularly strong metrics. Developers should be able to get rich from the treasury when creating win-win situations. And there should be no incentive to create artificial blockspace scarcity to drive fees higher. Growth is king here. This is not about fees yet. But if growth stagnates, this chain should be sent back to the open market and not subsist on Treasury funding indefinitely. The alternative is to seek capital from private markets: collect funding for coretime from the market and issue a governance token. Or purchase coretime on-demand when user transactions come in.