PANews reported on June 20 that Bryan Pellegrino (stinky penguin), co-founder and CEO of LayerZero Labs, explained in detail LayerZero's Proof of Donation mechanism and the logic behind it in his latest tweet. Pellegrino said that airdrops have deviated from their original intentions, and excessive speculation has led users to continue using the protocol just to get more free tokens, lacking long-term protocol alignment and loyalty.
Pellegrino pointed out that LayerZero was highly aligned with the community in 2022, but with the emergence of other large-scale airdrop events in 2023, users' expectations for LayerZero's airdrops have increased rapidly. Although LayerZero has never officially planned airdrops, market speculation has caused a surge in protocol usage, leading to tremendous pressure and excessive expectations. To avoid this short-term speculation, LayerZero has chosen a proof-of-donation approach, hoping that users can support groups that really need help through small donations and enhance value alignment with the protocol. This mechanism is designed to encourage users to stop and think before participating, pushing them to align more closely with LayerZero's core values.
Pellegrino emphasized that LayerZero's goal is to build a new Internet that is publicly held and not controlled by any single entity. They focus on long-term protocol development and support the best developers. He believes that although there may be some controversy now, LayerZero will eventually win the recognition and love of users.
