# kaal:claim:3931933-013

**Claim.** The initial Casper testnet was subject to inevitable centralization, illustrated by a small group of core developers setting validator performance numbers and other rules without broader community input.

**Type.** failure  **Support.** argued

**Holds when.**

- initial Casper testnet governance

**Source quote.**

> The initial Casper testnet was subject to inevitable forms of centralization. For example, a small group of core developers determined the testnet validator performance numbers and other rules without broader community input. Moreover, only a rather small group of developers managed

**From.** Wulf A. Kaal, *Hybrid Secure Proof of Stake* (2021), Testnets as remedies to platform centralization, page 5

**Cite as.** Wulf A. Kaal, Hybrid Secure Proof of Stake (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3931933

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `55a71cdfceb96fadefba1f2fed9563b588825378c91aff644ee7faaccdf31204` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Kaal%20-%202021%20-%20Hybrid%20Secure%20Proof%20of%20Stake.pdf

**Failure mode.** core developer rule capture  (family: recentralization-drift)

**Topics.** decentralization, governance-design

**Keywords.** casper-network, testnet, centralization, rule-setting, decentralized-governance

**Canonical form.** This markdown file is the canonical hashed representation of the claim. Its sha256 is the content hash used for attestation.