Rune Christensen, the CEO of MakerDAO, has proposed using Solana’s codebase as the foundation for the protocol’s future blockchain, NewChain.
According to Christensen, Solana stands out among others thanks to its overall technical excellence, adaptability, and resilience, and is a promising base for developing NewChain.
MakerDAO Exploring Forking Solana?
MakerDAO’s NewChain is part of the protocol’s long-term strategy, called Endgame. Endgame aims to improve MakerDAO’s governance and make the protocol self-sustaining in the long run. The strategy was set in motion in May 2022, with MakerDAO community governance voting in favor of the Maker Constitution. Endgame consists of 14 Maker Improvement Protocols (MIPs), which collectively create rules and the framework to facilitate the launch of Endgame. It has been split into five phases, and the final phase, phase 5, will see the deployment of a new chain, now called NewChain. NewChain will act as a hub for backend tools that will be supporting MakerDAO.
In an ecosystem discussion held on Friday, CEO Rune Christensen stated,
“The most important reason for why NewChain is needed is that it will allow the ecosystem to use hard forks to gracefully recover from the most severe form of governance attacks or technical failures.”
Why Solana?
He further added why he believed Solana was the ideal candidate, stating,
“The last phase of Endgame is the launch of a native blockchain for Maker with the codename NewChain. It will make the ecosystem more secure and efficient. After some research, I believe the Solana codebase should be considered as the basis for NewChain.”
Unlike older blockchains, NewChain will also have the advantage of having a clean slate. This means in the event of any technical fault or governance attacks, the chain should be easy to recover. Several factors justify Solana’s selection as the potential foundation for NewChain. The blockchain’s codebase is designed for high efficiency, which is a requirement for NewChain. It also solves problems and challenges that previous blockchains failed to address. Solana has also displayed exceptional resilience and has a thriving developer community. The third reason is Solana’s adaptability, which has already been proven through projects such as Pyth.
A Symbiotic Relationship
If the MakerDAO community votes in favor of the proposal, Christensen has argued that Maker and Solana could focus on cultivating a symbiotic relationship. A Solana fork would allow Maker to access developer talent and enrich the ecosystem. Christensen also advocated the establishment of a “Two-Stage Gravity Bridge” between Solana, Ethereum, and NewChain. Christensen stated that such a bridge would provide a useful boost to the network effect of the multichain economy.
“It would be strategically beneficial to ensure there is a Two-Stage Gravity Bridge from NewChain to Solana alongside the bridge from NewChain to Ethereum. It would also provide a useful boost to the network effect of the entire multichain economy.”
Another Contender
While Solana seems to be a perfect fit for NewChain, Christensen has also talked up Cosmos as another contender. He also noted the large and extremely skilled developer community on Cosmos. However, Cosmos lacks a centralized foundation and does not prioritize efficiency. This could result in higher maintenance costs in the long run, making Solana more appealing.
“Cosmos also doesn’t have a strong central foundation organization like Solana has, which could be either a good or bad thing.”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
