EOS is launching its own native blockchain after a year-long initial coin offering (ICO) which raised USD 4 billion, the largest ICO in history. Up until now, EOS has been a simple ERC-20 token that uses the Ethereum blockchain and had no accompanying technology that made it special.
Despite the lack of underlying unique technology, speculation has caused EOS to become the 4th most valuable cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash with a market cap of USD 13 billion and daily trading volume in excess of USD 1 billion.
Finally, block.one, the company that started EOS, has released EOSIO, an open-source software that claims to contain all the blockchain technology promised during the EOS ICO. Due to the risk of multiple EOS blockchains launched simultaneously, the EOS Authority is tracking the launch of the main blockchain and will give official word when the actual EOS network is operating, slated to occur around 5 June 2018.
Exchanges have frozen EOS deposits and withdrawals until the new blockchain is up and running, while users are advised to stop transacting EOS for the time being. Right now, EOS is migrating from the Ethereum blockchain to its own blockchain, the essential equivalent to a hard fork, with users potentially losing funds if not migrating properly.
EOS promises to be a platform for the commercial development of blockchain applications. EOS aims to be an entire operating system allowing for easy development and maintenance of blockchain applications, which has the potential to increase blockchain technology adoption and use if it lives up to its promises.
EOS will have the fastest transaction confirmation time out of any major cryptocurrency, at a mere 0.5 seconds between blocks. Also, there won’t be transaction fees for users depending on how much EOS they stake; in return for staking EOS and maintaining and securing the network, they get free transactions.
Theoretically, EOS could reach millions of transactions per second with no transaction fees, solving the cryptocurrency scalability problem. This is a long-term issue that Bitcoin has been dealing with, it currently can only handle up to 10 transactions per second, with transaction fees going as high as USD 50 in the past at peak demand.
Voting will be integrated into the EOS protocol, allowing for changes to be made to consensus mechanisms without a hard fork. This solves another deficiency of traditional blockchains, whereby changes of protocol can only be done via controversial hard forks.
The EOSIO software could be technology that will advance the world of blockchain applications. Only time will tell though, first its blockchain has to launch and function correctly.
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