<story><title>The Limits to Blockchain Scalability</title><url>https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/05/23/scaling.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>idlewords</author><text>The really obvious weakness in any blockchain setup is the software. Whoever controls the software upgrade channel will always have potential control of the blockchain, whether that&amp;#x27;s the official entity in charge, or some intermediary.&lt;p&gt;If you want really widespread distribution of full nodes, you need to make a consumer-friendly distribution of the node software, and package it and keep it updated in a way that regular users can run it and forget it. This same convenience introduces a centralization problem that obviates the whole point of running a distributed ledger.&lt;p&gt;This is a point so obvious I hesitate to make it, but I&amp;#x27;ve learned that in blockchain territory there is no flaw too obvious to point out.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rauljordan2020</author><text>Ethereum proof of stake has 4 production implementations today that run the chain. They are from independent teams that are not part of the Ethereum Foundation</text></comment>
<story><title>The Limits to Blockchain Scalability</title><url>https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/05/23/scaling.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>idlewords</author><text>The really obvious weakness in any blockchain setup is the software. Whoever controls the software upgrade channel will always have potential control of the blockchain, whether that&amp;#x27;s the official entity in charge, or some intermediary.&lt;p&gt;If you want really widespread distribution of full nodes, you need to make a consumer-friendly distribution of the node software, and package it and keep it updated in a way that regular users can run it and forget it. This same convenience introduces a centralization problem that obviates the whole point of running a distributed ledger.&lt;p&gt;This is a point so obvious I hesitate to make it, but I&amp;#x27;ve learned that in blockchain territory there is no flaw too obvious to point out.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>wmf</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s why some blockchains have multiple implementations and don&amp;#x27;t use auto-updates. There&amp;#x27;s also some work on taking governance out of developer&amp;#x27;s hands (e.g. Tezos where users vote on new features).</text></comment>