What is EOS?
Often called the “Ethereum killer”, the platform aims to improve a few things from Ether.
One of the lead developers behind the EOS project is Dan Larimer who has worked in similar projects and is also known to be the creator of successful applications such as Steemit and Bitshares, for example.
The idea behind EOS is to congregate in one platform the best features and advantages of the various smart contract technologies (e.g. Bitcoin’s security, Ethereum’s computing support), which enable users to use its tools with ease and create DApps freely.
System Elements
The EOS ecosystem is composed out of two major elements: EOS.IO and EOS crypto assets. The EOS.IO is a structure on which the platform is based, that functions similarly to an operating system. EOS is the native token for the network, which gives access to its holders to the network resource such as storage or additional bandwidth.
Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS)
The EOS blockchain makes use of a decentralized consensus algorithm called delegated proof of stake (DPOS). According to this algorithm, the token holders in the blockchain with the use of the EOS software elect the block creators through the continuous approval system and every network participant can participate in the process of generating blocks correspondingly to the votes they received. The management can use tokens for adding and removing the IT staff in the case of a private blockchain.
Delegated proof-of-stake entitles only 21 entities (whether they be individuals or institutional size miners) will be able to create new blocks. These 21 entities are called witnesses and to become one, individuals who own EOS tokens will have to give their vote for whom they want to become a witness.
Ultimately, the top 21 will be automatically chosen during each 21-block round. The number of votes earned determines the number of blocks the witness is able to create or mine. As the entity that mines the block receives the entire block reward, becoming a witness will be a very coveted position in the network.
The delegated proof-of-stake consensus was created to prevent mining pools from forming and to increase network security. Through the voting process and pool limitation to 21 block miners, the possibilities which may put the blockchain at risk are drastically reduced, as there are fewer entities that can negatively impact it.
If an entity is voted to become a witness, it is incentivized to act accordingly to the best interests of the blockchain, if not, it risks losing its position as a witness and forfeiting all potential profits from being one.
Scalability
The ability to scale is an important feature of any platform because it must be able to handle the market demand and its resulting traffic. To put things into perspective, Bitcoin currently has a maximum capacity of 4 transactions per second, while Ethereum has a network capacity of 20 transactions per second. Due to its delegate proof of stake protocol, EOS has stated that it can handle up to 50,000 transactions per second.
EOS Token Distribution
EOS tokens have been issued by the Ethereum platform since June 26th, 2017. The process was set to take place during the course of 341 days in several steps; with 1 billion tokens being planned to be distributed.
The first phase took place from June 26th to July 1st, 2017. 700 million tokens will be distributed evenly during 350 short periods of 23 hours each. The remaining 100 million tokens, which represent a tenth of the total amount, will be reserved for Block.one and cannot be sold or transferred to Ethereum networks.
This system was created so that larger entities do not buy the tokens at the beginning at the cheapest price.
Where Can You Buy EOS
EOS can be traded against BTC, ETH, USD, USDT and a number of other cryptos on a wide list of exchanges. Binance and Huobi are the exchanges that currently have the largest trading volume.
EOS value
Back on April 29th, EOS’s reaches its all-time high at $22.89. Currently, The EOS coin is trading at the price of $5.74 USD. EOS is ranked as the 5th cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap according to its market capitalization. The current market cap is $5,200,965,427 USD.
Conclusion
EOS shows much promise as a blockchain platform, as it is a scalable and efficient option to Ethereum’s DApp environment. But as far as its native coin is concerned, it is yet unknown if it will grow due to its uses or affiliation to the project.