“There’s no sugar coating it, EOS, as it stands, is a failure.” “The reality is that many people no longer want to be associated with EOS because of its tarnished reputation.”
Shots fired! That introduction from a speech last night came from EOS Network Foundation CEO Yves La Rose. The battle to control EOS is starting now. Block.one is still in control right now. But their control is fading and is now being questioned publicly.
How did EOS get to this point?
Background on EOS
It’s been a long time but EOS used to be a top 10 coin. And it was there for a long time. Block.one, who is a software company, designed the protocol. Their CTO, Dan Larimer, was vital to EOS and its creation. Larimer left Block.one in January.
When they did their ICO in June 2017 at the height of the ICO craze, they raised $172 million in the first 5 days. Then, they raised even more. In total, EOS raised $4 billion over a period of just under a year.
Now EOS is NOT a top 10 coin. It’s 45th. And that $4 billion they raised? The market value of the $EOS token is $4.4 billion today, just over a 10% ROI over 4 years of tremendous growth in the industry.
After its issuance in June, $EOS rose to a high of $24.67 in July 2017. Then a huge, fast decline between July and October 2017 down to 48c. The good news is that those who bought at or near those lows made over 800% on their investment. Here’s a look at their price chart.
Source: CoinGecko
But original token holders and validators were in earlier at higher prices. And it’s not just about returns, either. It’s also about Block.one’s ability to perform. Block.one is the centralized entity under the current EOS structure. Yet, they are acting like an absentee owner that forced EOS into more decentralized decision-making. La Rose believes that will be to EOS’ future benefit as a more decentralized chain.
Why is there an EOS Network Foundation?
EOS launched in 2017 but the EOS Network Foundation, founded by La Rose, did not start until August 2021. La Rose describes what led to its creation in his speech. La Rose does not hold back and says that both he and most token holders inside and outside of EOS believe “….that Block.one knowingly misrepresented their capabilities and this amounts to negligence and fraud.”
The critiques of Block.one continue, like:
- Many failed commitments
- No focus on EOS “in any meaningful sense”
- No interest in contributing to protocol improvements
- They are fraudulent, and by association, EOS is also fraudulent
With the needs of Block.one and EOS diverging, La Rose saw the chance to try to take back control of the protocol. More importantly, to put it in the hands of those that want the best for it: the token holders and validators.
The centralization of Block.one’s control is another problem in a decentralizing cryptoeconomy. For these reasons, La Rose created the EOS Network Foundation to try to decentralize and improve EOS now and in the future.
What are the EOS Network Foundation’s goals?
It’s clear the Foundation believes it must take control away from Block.one. But It has more specific goals in mind. Those goals include:
- Stop the bleeding from the EOS ecosystem
- Get EOS moving forward again like many other blockchain projects that started later but surpassed them (Polkadot, Solana, Cardano)
- Enable developers and others to build on EOS
- Increase demand for the EOS ecosystem and the EOSIO software, specifically
- Create new strong partnerships in the industry and in media to help EOS rebrand to what it really is, not what people think Block.one is
- Create a new roadmap for growth for the community
The technical roadmap for EOS is divided into 4 new groups that intend to publish papers on their recommendations before the Chinese New Year. The groups are small teams doing research to analyze where to move forward. Those groups are:
- Audit+
- Wallet+
- Docu+ (documentation for developers)
- API+
The last major goal is to control the codebase for EOSIO and use it for the benefit of EOS and its users.
Money and Branding
The EOS Network Foundation has already committed over $5 million dollars to help with the EOS turnaround. More commitments are on the way, too.
EOS and the Foundation both know that branding is a big problem. They believe they can stop the damage by divesting from Block.one. Yet, that’s only one part of it. EOS must also create positive branding for itself. The Foundation hopes to be the single, unified voice for the EOS ecosystem and use that to work with marketing and branding firms to show people what EOS really can do.
Conclusion
EOS believes their needs and the needs of Block.one have split. And the two cannot come back together. The new EOS Network Foundation sees an opportunity based on the quality of the EOSIO software, with interest from developers, and the broader EOS community to take EOS back. Only then, can those with the most invested in EOS help move it forward into the future.
EOS Price Activity
EOS currently trades at $4.56 down 4.5% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. It has a circulating supply of 972 million coins and a market value of $4.4 billion. Again, this makes EOS the 45th highest value cryptocurrency.
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