
Michelson: The Language of Smart Contracts in Tezos - bshanks
https://github.com/tezos/tezos/blob/master/src/proto/alpha/docs/language.md
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gnarcoregrizz
Why not have Michelson target the ethereum virtual machine instead of creating
a whole new protocol? Besides the provability of contracts, are there other
advantages over eth?

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irickt
(I'm not affiliated wit Tezos.)

The tezos protocal has a major innovation over others: formal governance by
the owners of the tokens. It is also proof of stake from the beginning. In
general they have made a lot of smart design decisions as documented in their
publications going back several years.

They have been slow to launch though. While they might have had a lead on
Ether, it is now to be seen how the market reacts to their sale.

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forgotpwtomain
> formal governance by the owners of the tokens. It is also proof of stake
> from the beginning.

You mean the innovation that 50% can trivially rewrite history, or something
else?

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bshanks
80%, i think:
[https://github.com/tezos/tezos/blob/master/src/proto/alpha/a...](https://github.com/tezos/tezos/blob/master/src/proto/alpha/amendment.ml)

(imo 80% is more than enough to prevent shenanigans -- in most contexts
anything even slightly controversial cannot get near 80% support. And in this
case, the voting is weighted by stake, and the market value of the Tez would
presumably decrease if shenanigans were pulled; Tez-holders would probably be
reluctant to do something that is both wrong and also would clearly decrease
the value of their holdings. In fact i think the threshold for amendment
should be lower than 80%; i might chose 67% if it were up to me)

