Ethereum has long been a cornerstone of the blockchain revolution, and Ethereum R1 adds another latest chapter in its history. Unveiled recently, Ethereum R1 promises to redefine the true potential of the second largest blockchain network and bring back the true value of decentralization.
In an exclusive interview with one of Ethereum R1’s core team members Zeng Jiajun, The CryptoTimes uncovered the passion, knowledgeable insights, and breakthroughs behind this transformative development. From 100% public funding, no-token design philosophy and enhanced scalability, Ethereum R1 has taken a truly new initiative that aligns with the fundamental prospects of decentralized finance.
This discussion reveals why Ethereum R1 is not just another rollup but a bold step toward a more connected and decentralized future. Below are the questions and answers from our call, that throws spotlight on the idealization, development, and core principles of Ethereum R1;
What’s yours and your team’s motivation behind developing Ethereum R1?
Well first of all, we want to build a platform which is 100% decentralized and owned by no VC funding. We do not want to see the commercialization of Ethereum, and we are not extracting value out of it but rather, we want to contribute to it.
Me and my team have been close to and using Ethereum for years now and we do not want it to be at a place where its value is exploited. What R1 proposes is a token-free and publicly funded layer 2 infrastructure that will help, not compete with the Ethereum base layer.
What we believe is that a decentralized network should be free of control in any form, from financial contribution to its development. And that is why we have planned R1 to be publicly funded with no governance and essentially no native tokens. What all this leads it to a stage 2 platform from day 1. We are open for contributors and anyone can join us in building this.
What are your views on the current status of Ethereum?
Yeah Ethereum is great currently, i mean it is facing issues but its growth isn’t impacted that much as it continues to lead the decentralized finance space.
Since its launch, Ethereum has seen various phases and its roadmap continues to focus on improving scalability and decentralization. And the Ethereum Foundation has been at the center of all major developments and it will be shut down in the next few years, and that was the ultimate goal for Ethereum, to be fully decentralized.
Any comments on Pectra Upgrade?
Yes Pectra is here and it’s really helpful for Ethereum as it introduces various upgrades to the base layer. One of my favorites is EIP-7702 which introduces account abstraction and makes simple wallets smart wallets. It’s going to be good for the future while allowing more programmability on the user side.
Pectra Upgrade went live on May 7 with it introducing several developments on Ethereum, such as smart accounts, increased staking limits and improvements in blob transactions.
Is there a road-map or timeline you guys are following?
Well, nothing is fixed yet. We have got everything on the table. And we are deciding things to move further with. Me and my have been discussing and will probably finalize once we move from the initial phase, which is to find contributors and choose the development roadmap.
This two were the questions, asked repeatedly in the telegram group chat;
1. How will incentives be provided without tokens?
2. Will transaction fees alone be enough to create a decentralized proposer network?
Well again, we have got everything on table but have not decided which way to commit. But what has been decided so far is that all R1 transactions will have priority fee–which will go to zk-provers— and base fees—which goes to R1 research and development.
Although, as we have planned, the base-fee will be burned 100% by 2030 as we would have gotten sufficient R&D funds by the time.
To encourage ecosystem growth, we have plans for developers. We are planning to onboard them with partnerships and connections to funding. Our team has connections to various people in the industry for fundraisings, which will help developers.
How do you see Optimism, Arbitrum and other L2s?
Yeah, they are great and some of the oldest players in L2 space – Optimism, Arbitrum and Taiko. As there are currently many layer 2 networks on Ethereum, which what I think, are functioning as independent chains. This has no doubt expanded Ethereum’s ecosystem, scaled Ethereum but what most oppose is vc baking and token structure.
Any Technical Details: TPS, Consensus or anything?
Well not it’s not all fully finalized but, we have got zk-provers plus Taiko L2 stack as well as the Surge fork by Nethermind, so all these are currently in development and we are deciding a way to go further with this, and of course more details will be shared by our team as we move forward.
Have you connected with anyone from the Ethereum Foundation yet or are you in touch with Vitalik or any other from the EF team ?
Yes we have been in touch with the EF team, in fact Vitalik personally helped us in one of the contract code and advised us technically. Plus, Justin Drake is also helping us auditing contracts, and there are more people we connected to and all are really helpful. We have received warm support from their side as we share the same vision as them.
How far have you come with the public donations?
Well, first we had a wallet address live for donations but we removed it and now we are currently developing a contract for public donations. Once it’s done, it will be live on the website.
The new Donation Contract is now live on the website.
Any final words?
We just want to develop a truly decentralized layer 1 that supports the vision of Ethereum—which is to be completely decentralized and funded by the public, for the public. R1 is not a personal project, it’s a community project. It’s my project, It’s your project and we all are going to contribute to it.
Also read: Ethereum Foundation Unveils ‘Trillion Dollar Security’ Plan
