Amidst the long-standing discussions surrounding “decentralization” in the blockchain industry, a persistent question remains: can a protocol truly function sustainably without a core team and centralized management? Recently, an on-chain protocol called HeShanLing has been addressing this question through its actual operation, drawing industry attention.
Public information reveals that HeShanLing is not driven by a traditional project team or company; its initiation and operation rely more on the continuous participation of community members within the on-chain rules framework. Deployed on BNB Smart Chain, the protocol has not undergone daily management or collaborative scheduling through a centralized organization since its launch. Its operational status is primarily shaped by on-chain rules and participant behavior.
Several industry observers point out that this operational model is uncommon in the current blockchain ecosystem. While the concept of decentralization is widely accepted, in practice, most protocols still require a core team to maintain, coordinate, and control the system’s direction. In contrast, the operational status exhibited by HeShanLing is closer to a “weak organization, strong rules” structure.
From a community perspective, participants in the HeShanLing platform do not collaborate around centralized decision-making. Instead, their interactions are more a collection of decentralized behaviors constrained by established rules. Participants do not need to reach consensus or accept instructions; they only need to follow on-chain rules to participate in system operation. This approach lowers the barrier to collaboration to some extent and reduces friction caused by centralized decision-making.
As the number of participants increases, the HeShanLing community gradually exhibits cross-regional distribution characteristics. Participants from different regions act within the same protocol framework, and the system itself does not change significantly due to geographical differences. Industry insiders believe that this phenomenon indicates that rule-driven protocols have a certain degree of adaptability in global collaborative environments.
HeShanLing does not address the complexity of expansion through frequent organizational adjustments. Instead, its operational status reflects a dynamic balance between rules and behavior. This model does not rely on human judgment but allows the system’s state to naturally emerge through continuous operation.
In the current blockchain industry, discussions about decentralized organizations are moving from theory to practice. The operation of HeShanLing provides this discussion with a real-world object that can be continuously observed for the first time. Analysts point out that the significance of such protocols lies not in their short-term scale, but in their ability to maintain basic order in the absence of central coordination.
As blockchain applications gradually enter the infrastructure stage, the ability of protocols to exist long-term with minimal intervention is becoming a new benchmark. The operational model demonstrated by the HeShanLing protocol offers the industry a possibility different from traditional project structures.
It is widely believed in the industry that future competition among decentralized protocols will not only be reflected in technical parameters or functional design, but also in organizational methods and operational resilience. In this process, the actual operation of the HeShanLing protocol is being continuously monitored by the industry.