EOS has been something of an enigma in the crypto world, drawing both adulation and disdain from various individuals. It remains controversial in many respects and something of a mystery to those that are not fully-versed in all aspects of crypto.
While its visions are admirable--visions of becoming a decentralized operating system which supports industrial-scale decentralized applications without transaction fees and at a rate of a million per second--there are other factors to consider. The realisation of such a vision will undoubtedly be a challenge, and it is worth looking at whether it can truly be fulfilled.
It is thus the aim of this piece to consider the aspects of EOS that need to be considered before deciding on where it would function in the crypto world and who would benefit from buying or selling EOS.
What is EOS?
The core team that created EOS is “Block.one”, a company based in Hong Kong. Brendon Blumer, the CEO, has had involvement with Blockchain since 2014. Previously, he has been involved in companies which dealt with currency exchanges in MMORPGs as well as the world of real estate.
Dan Larimer is the CTO of Block.one, and the creator of delegated proof-of-stake and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO). He also created BitShares and Steem. The EOS ICO was launched in 2017 and is still ongoing, with 10 percent of its total supply being reserved for Block.one.
@Vitalikbuterin and I are fundamentally striving for the same end goal: minimizing corruption and maximizing freedom by non-violent means. #blockchain #eos #eosio #ethereum #bitcoin https://t.co/9D0tSzz92B
— Daniel Larimer (@bytemaster7) March 30, 2018
The idea merges together the numerous elements based on both the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchain platforms. EOS.io seeks to provide developers easy-to-use tools for creating and developing 'dapps' (decentralized applications). While the majority of people usually have an understanding of financial part of crypto, it is the blockchain element which has contributed to the success of some of the largest Cryptocurrencies .
This includes leading cryptos such as Ethereum, Ripple Labs, and Stellar Lumens. Alongside cryptocurrencies with large market caps, these companies also allow for the creation of real-world blockchain applications.
To make sure they appeal to as many people as possible when launching their platform of development, Block.one made the EOS token available through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that has spanned over the course of a year and raised over $2 billion. Despite stating that investors will only be receiving the cryptocurrency with no right to own the company, it was still a huge success. Block.one said it will utilise the earnings from the ICO to continue developing their EOS.io platform.
What sets EOS apart?
The biggest issue that faces the blockchain based space is the issue of the scale of transactions. In essence, being able to process as many as possible as quickly as possible. Visa is capable of processing approximately 1,660 transactions per second whilst Paypal manages roughly 190 in the same time; by comparison, Bitcoin manages only 3-4 transactions every second while Ethereum can do around 20 transactions per second.
The main reason why blockchain-based apps cannot process a large quantity of transactions per second is that every node of the network must come to a consensus for any transaction to go through. Nodes are computers that do the necessary work to uphold a blockchain network.
EOS claims that as a consequence of them utilising the distributed proof-of-stake consensus mechanism (DPOS), they can process millions of transactions with ease.
Another factor where they claim to offer a better solution is the flexible nature of their system for completing transactions. Ethereum’s entire ecosystem ground to a halt during the infamous DAO hack in 2017.
EOS uses a DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) algorithm which means that this is unlikely to happen within their system. If a dapp build on the EOs blockchain isn’t working correctly, the chosen block producers can freeze it until the issue is fixed. This makes the DPoS system more flexible, as not every node has to work for the maintenance of the chain.
Got questions? Remember to #AskBlockone for an official response from our team! https://t.co/LrH46eQpUz
— EOS (@EOS_io) May 10, 2018
The major problem of EOS however, is that the project is still in its early stages. It’s akin to a startup company that has no tangible results to show at this stage. This can be applied to other cryptocurrencies that were launched just last year. Cardano, for example, went into the top 10 of the world’s biggest cryptocurrencies a brief period after its launch.
It can be argued that this is because both companies are backed by strong, successful technical minds who have gained investors' trust, despite there not being a strong result to show.
Another factor to consider is that EOS still needs to reach the mainstream in terms of adoption, which is an extremely tough mountain to climb. Getting large businesses to start using EOS can be a challenging task, particularly if those businesses can invest in their own operating systems.
The Bottom Line
EOS is an intriguing prospect with the potential to be huge. At the moment however, all that potential is all that there really is. The next challenge will be to implement the great vision that they have put in place.
While the cryptocurrency is backed by an impressive team, it still remains to be seen whether they will be able to deliver the results on this particular project. EOS is under a month away from launching, with its tokens set to be frozen on the Ethereum blockchain on the 2nd of June.
The investment and backing from the market is there. The next stage is for EOS to deliver.
