Dan Larimer: EOS Arbitrator 'Damage to Community' Worse Than Thefts

The CTO of the company that developed the protocol behind the EOS network has called for a much-reduced role for the controversial dispute arbitrator that has monopolized the attention of the EOS community in recent days and drawn significant outside criticism.

"My official opinion on disputes regarding stolen keys is that no action should be taken," Dan Larimer wrote in an EOS Telegram channel Tuesday in reference to the EOS Core Arbitration Forum.

Larimer was referring to a recent order issued by the arbitrator, which required the EOS network's block producers - the 21 validators who maintain the blockchain in a way analogous to bitcoin's miners - to freeze 27 accounts that had been compromised by hackers or scammers.

ECAF's action attracted significant criticism: on the one hand, from observers who felt the order violated the principle that cryptocurrency payments should not be subject to censorship; on the other, from EOS network participants who felt that ECAF's processes were haphazard and unprofessional.

"Bottom line," Larimer wrote Tuesday, "Damage to community from ECAF is greater than funds we hope to restore to users."

On the other hand, he indicated that he still sees some place for arbitration on the EOS network.

Larimer's comments echoed a persistent thread of criticism in EOS social media forums: that governance - a central part of the network's ethos and reason for existing - should all happen on the blockchain, rather than through ad hoc methods like screen grabs of PDFs shared on Telegram.

Many participants in the chat complained about ECAF: its sloppy methods, its outsized power and the way it distracts from what they see as EOS' world-changing potential.

"The ability to recover stolen funds and not have to worry about hackers was a big selling point" of EOS, one wrote.

Sam Sapoznick, the arbitrator who signed the order freezing 27 addresses that had been compromised by bad actors, made a different argument: that Larimer's involvement in such discussions was inappropriate, whatever he was proposing.