We've been accelerating the agentic economy on the distribution layer.
On April 20, we're bringing it to Hong Kong with @byreal_io and @ChainforGood.
From AI agents to RWAs and the future of onchain finance, some conversations are better in person.
Back in Summer 2023, when I attended SBC23, decentralized sequencers were a hot topic in many conversations.
Looking back, I’ve been reflecting on why the momentum seems to have slowed.
A few incomplete thoughts:
– Incentives at the rollup level are not obviously aligned with decentralizing sequencing, especially given the tight coupling between sequencing, performance, and revenue.
– The costs of decentralization (latency, coordination overhead, operational complexity) are immediate and observable, while the risks it aims to mitigate (censorship, capture, liveness failures) remain largely latent.
– In practice, decentralizing the sequencer does not automatically result in neutral ordering, as most designs introduce new governance mechanisms, stake-weighted control, or MEV allocation rules.
– For zk-rollups, sequencing performance is even more tightly coupled with proving pipelines, which may favor stronger coordination rather than weaker or fully decentralized designs.
– Part of the discussion appears to have shifted toward based rollups, which reframe sequencing as an L1-level ordering problem rather than something to be solved entirely within individual rollups.
Curious how others think about this now.