Value comparison using Proof-of-Sacrifice

As a result of Ethereum moving to Proof-of-Stake and the rise of liquid staking, there now exists a clear and defined opportunity cost to not staking ether. Proof-of-Sacrifice would be proof of an individual intentionally forgoing the staking reward in order to demonstrate sacrifice with regards to some “thing”. Sacrifice would be measured as the quantity of ether (staking reward) foregone over time. To prove sacrifice an individual could deposit ether into a smart contract for no reward.

If we assume sacrifice as a worthy proxy for “value”, then in this way an individual can demonstrate what they “value” and how much. Further, if a protocol was implemented, then a public ledger of quantifiable comparable “value” could be created. Comparison queries from such a ledger could offer external smart contracts an additional axis on which to base decision making. Some use cases for such queries could be allocation or screening.

The following link is a quick example of how such a protocol may function. https://nathanjclark.notion.site/nathanjclark/Value-Comparison-using-Proof-of-Sacrifice-fe9833aa60e745c092564883059baab4

Any thoughts/feedback welcome.

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Staking is not risk-free (even though it may feel like it with liquid staking) and so refusing to stake your ETH is not an opportunity cost. As a staker myself, I can say that there are several risks and a fair amount of work in running a validator. If the reward rate drops too much I would certainly stop staking. That implies that it’s not a risk-free rate.

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