Design Nuances & Considerations

While the Efímero: Disposable Chains offer significant benefits for high-volume use-cases, some features introduce setup complexity and require careful security considerations.

Design Considerations

Asset Creation Requires Governance Control

Asset creation on the disposable chain is managed by sudo or the governance body, as these assets represent versions of tokens originally issued on the configured asset reserve like Asset Hub, Mythos, or any other chain. Only authorized entities can create assets on the disposable chain, ensuring that they are accurate representations for chain operations.

Governance Control for Merkle Root Storage

To maintain data integrity, Merkle roots used for validation must be stored by sudo or other governance authorities. This restriction ensures that only trusted parties can validate the data used for claim eligibility, protecting users and the system from potential inaccuracies or manipulation.

Flexible Native Asset Configuration

With no native token on the disposable chain, any configurable asset can serve as the native asset like the Relay Chain token, USDC, or the native token of the reserve chain. This requirement increases setup complexity, as initial funds must be transferred in to enable operations, and users may need an XCM transfer instead of a standard transfer to acquire the funds required for certain actions, such as moving assets back to the reserve chain.

Asset Issuance Managed by Trusted Reserve

All assets on the disposable chain are issued externally by the configured trusted reserve (such as Asset Hub, Energy Web, or any other designated chain) and then transferred in via XCM. This setup limits the chain's ability to independently manage asset issuance, relying instead on integrations with the configured reserve chain within or beyond the Polkadot ecosystem.

Non-Persistent Storage

Storage on the disposable chain is designed to be temporary. Actions taken on this chain should be viewed as ephemeral, and mechanisms must be in place to secure valuable assets or achievements. Users are encouraged to transfer claimed assets back to the configured reserve chain or other permanent chains for persistence, as the disposable chain's state may be flushed periodically.

Potential Vulnerabilities in Low-Friction Environment

The zero existential deposit and free transaction mechanisms for new users introduce potential vulnerabilities. For example, malicious actors could exploit free claim transactions by spamming mass-created accounts, sending failing transactions that, while not altering state, could burden RPC endpoints and impact node performance.

The initial whitelist filter mitigates these risks, and the mechanism can be disabled if administrators determine the risk outweighs the benefit. However, with adequate traffic control and proactive DDoS prevention, the low-friction environment can function as intended for user-friendly engagement.

Trade-offs Summary

These design decisions represent calculated trade-offs aimed at making the disposable chain viable for its intended purpose: enabling high-volume, low persistence use-cases within the Polkadot ecosystem while maintaining necessary security and operational integrity.