What is EOS?

Let’s talk about EOS.

What is EOS?
The EOS blockchain is a smart contract platform built on top of C++ which is an excellent computer language for speed, precision, and scalability (if implemented properly).

In my opinion?
I think that EOS is a different look at how blockchains are currently operating in the world, a new take on what the world needs to mass adopt blockchain technology.

CENTRALIZATION

Let’s talk about this first. EOS is centralized. So is every other blockchain out there with a large market cap.

DECENTRALIZATION AND 51% ATTACKS 

When a blockchain is a brand new baby it it the most decentralized it will ever be. After a while the hashing power required to compute each block header becomes exponentially harder which causes the amount of power to get coins to go up. In turn as a miner you will want to sell your coins for a larger amount in order to cover the costs of internet connectivity and power. After a while this becomes so exponential that it’s not profitable to mine on your own computer, so you end up joining a pool. Eventually a pool can become so large that they can direct the mining power towards whichever coin they choose to feature on their service. This can cause significant centralization when it comes to hashing power. Although Anyone can join the mining cluster, in order to even make a profit you need to join a pool. The pool can direct your hashing power towards whatever they wish and if they own more than one mining pool, setup with a different name but the same infrastructure this could easily lead to a 51% attack.

51% Attacks are the scariest thing a blockchain can face. Let’s explore the concept.

• Hitting 51% network control is not a guarantee of success, just the point where success is likely.
• 51% attack doesn’t give you full power over the network.
• The farther back in the blockchain transactions are, the more secured they are against this kind of attack. (Longer = more secure)
• An attacker would only be able to modify transactions within the past few blocks. They would also not be able to make new coins out of thin air – except those received as block mining rewards as usual.
• In the event that such an attack successfully takes place, it is likely confidence in the currency would be lost and it’s value as a currency would decline rapidly.
• Not even large-scale governments could easily mount a 51% attack.

PLATFORM

EOS is built on top of the C++ computer language. This is a well known computer programming language to most computer scientists.

C++ is used for the following applications

Operating Systems
Development of New Languages
Computation Platforms
Embedded systems
Graphics / Games
Compilers

These are very low level computing applications which interact very closely with the Kernel which then translates to the hardware including the CPU / RAM / Storage and other computing resources.

BLOCKCHAIN CONSENSUS

EOS runs on a newer consensus algorithm known as Delegated Proof of Stake. Which provides smart contracts as well as governance. Governance is one crucial thing that Ethereum is currently missing.

Ethereum currently runs on a proof of work algorithm which means it takes a long time for all of the nodes in the world to come to consensus to hash the right block header and move on to the next block. This is why Ethereum can only process around 18 transactions per second. Ethereum will switch to a proof of stake algorithm which will speed up the consensus algorithm but it may take a year or two to fully implement. Nodes in this system will have to hold large amounts of Ether which will further centralize the network as only very “wealthy” people will be able to stake large amounts of ether.

EOS will have 21 delegated nodes which means that any and all EOS holders will vote for the 21 delegates. Once the 21 delegates are chosen they will be responsible for holding up the blockchain. This includes protecting the infrastructure from malicious entities and maintaining uptime. If any delegates attempt to act in a malicious state that doesn’t come to consensus with the majority of the other delegates then they will automatically be voted out and a new “standby” delegate will take their place.

TOKEN USE

On Ethereum the ethereum token is used as fuel in order to create an action within the Ethereum Virtual Machine(EVM). Ether also let’s you purchase tokens created on the Ethereum blockchain, you can make calls to smart contracts, you can make single, very basic calls to functions within smart contracts within the ethereum mainNet.

On EOS your EOS are like membership cards that do not expire. You can use your EOS in order to plug-in to an EOS application in order to use it and use it’s RAM, Processing power, storage etc. your EOS are held in escrow while you use the application. When you’re done you can get your EOS tokens back. You can then use them to create or promote a newer application that maybe has performed in a much better manner than the previous app you were supporting.

VALUE OF THE TOKEN

Ethereum tokens will be valuable for a few years simply because they are the first smart contract platform that succeeded in proving that blockchain could revolutionize the world. Ethereum has also proven to the world that it is a a legitimate project that will attempt to disrupt for as long as possible. So long as the platform maintains a stable decentralization then it will continue to succeed even if it is much slower than other up and coming projects.

EOS tokens get their value based on the demand for the applications within the EOS application environment. If there are many applications within the EOS environment which are widely liked and used it means that most of the EOS tokens will be locked up within the applications so there won’t be much liquidity and if there is, then most people will be hesitant to let go of their EOS tokens due to the demand to utilize decentralized / trusted applications. EOS tokens could easily rival Ethereum token value based on the FIAT model if you think about this different supply / demand model.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS OF HOLDING EOS

EOS will allow mapping of a simple “username” of up to 12 character to be linked to an EOS address. This means that rather than sending EOS to a randomly generated address you could send EOS to and address such as pcturnaround or anything which is a lot easier to use for the average user than a randomly generated public key.

Key recovery
EOS will have specific settings per account which means that you can set delays for your transactions so you could recover your account if you had your private key compromised in a phishing scam. If no transactions can be sent within 15 minutes then you could easily log into your EOS account and disable everything or lock down the account or only allow sending funds to 1 address before the 15 minutes were up therefore avoiding loss of funds. Multisig is also something that has been talked about before.

This is something that NO OTHER blockchain project in existence has ever implemented.

Airdrops
The EOS foundation has funded a lot of projects, in turn a lot of EOS token holders may get airdrops for the tokens used on many platforms within the EOS ecosystem. Some tokens will be worth a lot. Others will be worthless but it gives some users an edge when it comes to tokens with high demand and usability.

IMPLICATIONS

EOS is in some ways more centralized than other blockchains, although when you think about it it’s more equally decentralized and therefore may be able to be more widely adopted as a global blockchain.  If EOS is embraced by developers and provides a completely new view of blockchain, that can provide speed and scalability then this token could potentially come to rival more widely knows blockchain projects such as Ethereum, NEO, Stellar, Cardano and others.

IS THIS NEW?

No.

There have already been different implementations of this type of blockchain built before. Some of them include

Lisk (consensus algorithm)
ARK (consensus algorithm)
DASH (masternodes / voting)
SMARTCASH (masternodes / voting)

LISK implemented 151 delegates which made it easy for delegate spots to get bought out by the same entity. Therefore creating a delegate cartel which “controls” the developers as they could dump and crash the whole platform at any moment.

ARK is very similar to EOS but it runs on javascript with multiple APIs for other computer lanaguagues and it implemented 51 delegates which is more like the USA government delegate system. This system seems to be working properly although ARK cannot execute smart contracts in it’s current form. It will be able to once ARK VM V2 comes out which will bring other improvements such as lower delegate voting fees and scalable transactions fees. I believe this project is vastly undervalued and should compete head to head against EOS.

DASH has been around for a long time and has been very successful although it bring back the same point that the most “wealthy” in terms of tokens will make the most ammount of profit from the system.

SmartCash value depends on how many holders thing it’s worth more than others. Smartcash rewards all coin holders if they hold their coins for a month. If you make any transations then you do not get any coins. You must have at least 1,000 Smart cash coins to be eligible for the reward.