Cool development, for sure.
Personally, I am not even convinced yet that "smart contracts" (the way Ethereum uses them and allows users
to freely 'install' new ones on-chain) are a viable business long-term.
This has nothing to do with EVM, or OpenLedger per-se, but with how I personally interpret the term "trust-less":
Before bitcoin/blockchain, people had to trust the middle*MAN*, who was a human being and not only may not be trustworthy,
but (what's worse), he might change behavior sometime later.
With the blockchain, people can now (partially) trust a piece of software that replaces the human being. Software does **not**
change mind but always executes "as implemented" - and that's where the problem starts already. We've all seen what
has happend to "the DAO" and how "intention" may not be reflected fully by "implementation". What I want to say is this:
In BitShares, people trust the operation implementations which go through rigorous review by the core development team
and the review of witnesses as well as anyone curious before a network upgrade that introduces new code. Those operations
(fixed smart contracts) are also tested in plenty of unit tests! Ultimately, that means, you end up with a functionality on-chain that
performs the exact way it was specified for (and confirmed by unit tests!).
Those contracts are *reliable* and people can *trust* the development team, procedures, and ecosystem!
With EVM contracts, you allow anyone to install new code. What happens is that noone knows how *reliable* that contract is! Was
it reviewed? By whom was it reviewed? Was it tested? How was it tested? Ultimately, the users need to *trust* the code? How well
will that work? We've seen with the DAO!
Introducing EVM to BitShares now makes things more complicated because you introduce a software where
people need to trust the code
and mix it with software where
people trust the development team and procedures in place.
My fears are that BitShares as a trust-less platform may be harmed by individual "smart contracts" that go rough.
We've seen that with "the DAO", we today see it again with EOSbet.
I don't want that for BitShares.
Instead, how about you go the route BEOS goes and span a sidechain? I believe that with this (
https://github.com/bitshares/bitshares-core/wiki/SPV)
we might be able to connect graphene chains with each other. That would allow people to move their funds over
to a separate chain and by this also separate concerns...
</imho>