In-depth Analysis and Application Prospects of Trigger Operators

The trigger operators play a crucial role in smart contracts. Their existence is determined by the nature of smart contracts under Satoshi Nakamoto's architecture: each operation is a global auction. When the internal logic of the contract requires a change of state upon meeting specific conditions, it must be triggered by external operations rather than being automatically implemented.

The trigger operator is essentially a non-linear exchange based on GAS consumption, information carrying costs, and the benefits of state changes. This non-linear characteristic allows the trigger operator to potentially create self-reinforcing effects in certain dimensions, thereby solidifying value.

Generally speaking, trigger operators can be classified from three aspects:

1. Permission: Whether the triggering object is restricted, such as in the case of borrowing and lending, where the repayment trigger is limited to the borrower, while the liquidation trigger is open to everyone.

2. Information Carrying: Whether information or assets are passed to the contract when triggered. This will affect the trigger cost, as carrying information may involve additional costs, especially for assets.

3. Time relevance: Whether the validity of the trigger is related to time, which will affect the triggering strategy.

In decentralized finance (DeFi) design, trigger operators are often positioned as third-party actions in games, primarily used for liquidation. This raises the issue of incentive design. Different scenarios will lead to different incentive mechanisms, especially when considering information costs and time effects.

In addition to liquidation, the trigger operator has another important function: automatic hedging. Furthermore, the trigger operator that creates or actively contributes information is also an important application. Over time, due to its non-linearity and versatility, the trigger operator may become the first on-chain operator to capture value.

However, whether a trigger operator can independently constitute a game is still a question worthy of discussion. Since each trigger operator is attached to a specific scenario, it is difficult to operate under a unified incentive system. Achieving this may require all contracts to be formulated under the same standard, which is an important research direction.

Analysis indicates that triggering operators must introduce random factors to become independent games. However, as a component of a large game, triggering operators may possess certain self-enhancing characteristics, such as being used for hedging or pricing.

Overall, the nonlinear structure of trigger operators can be combined with large contracts to form self-enhancing non-cooperative games with economic value. However, it is difficult to independently complete a game design and solidify value. From this perspective, certain existing products may logically have issues, turning into internal lottery systems.

In the future, the application prospects of trigger operators are broad, but their design and implementation need to take various factors into deep consideration to ensure they play a positive role in a wider ecosystem.