Is EOS Utopia?

When you look into your decentralised crystal ball what do you see? What does it look like?

This space is full of anonymous twitter handles that preach in unison the utopian anthem of decentralisation. And it’s exciting to peer into the future at what the world might be. One of fairness, transparency, of non-hierachial structures, free from censorship and ultimately real truth but the problem is that decentralisation or utopia in the eyes of the young buck on twitter is an unrealistic vision.

Decentralisation for many is the next step in the journey to a utopian world, but as humans and the current state of this technology we are far from anything that resembles utopia, in fact we may be taking a step backwards. You only have to look at the news to see the continual flow of market manipulation, hacks or scams to realise this looks more like a dystopian world than anything else. However sometimes, it is actually necessary to take a step backwards before moving forward.

EOS has been the focus for many crypto enthusiasts so we thought it would be imperative to drill further into what has been behind the longest and largest ICO to date. What we found and what makes EOS so special is that it is much more than a technology platform, it is in all seriousness a new world order that is aiming to take us one step closer to utopia.

So what is EOS?

EOS, more commonly known as the Ethereum Killer or Ethereum On Steroids, is a smart contract platform designed specifically for decentralised apps. Although this sound exactly how one would describe Ethereum, there are several large fundamental differences that makes EOS “bespoke” for Dapps and a future digital world.

Before we go forward, it is important to think about what we as users need from Dapps and what developers need from a decentralised platform.

• Seamless UI and UX
• Development friendly (cost effective to build)
• Competitive pricing (free)
• Fast transactions (high throughput)
• Trust
• People actually using them (network effects)

EOS has 4 billion dollars in funding to make the above a reality, and the experience of Dan Larimer who has created two of the most used platforms to date, namely bitshares and Steem. But this is not just about the technology, this is about how we create the right governance model that moves us to a world that many of us originally believed that Bitcoin was taking us to. The idea that code is law fails to understand that humans design code and in all designs their is a weakness, an achilles heel that will reveal itself most likely when masses amount of money are on the line.

EOS works via a consensus mechanism known as Delegated Proof of Stake, which simply is a voting mechanism where entities known as ‘Block Producers’ are voted in by the crowd to ‘produce blocks’. There is significant rewards for being a Block producer however, they are also under careful watch by the network. There are 121 total nodes and the top 21 are actively involved in block production. The other 100 are on standby in case one of the top 21 can no longer perform their block producing duties. They are elected based on whatever criteria you as a token holder find valuable. With ongoing voting should a block producer not perform their duty to the highest standard than they can be voted out by the network. What this leads to is an ultra competitive system that enforces the block producers to not only function at a high standard but also support and grow the network. In essence, this is a highly efficient government, which will utilise it’s revenue stream to improve the platform.

Block Producers have the ability to include a transaction in a block but also to exclude a transaction. Block Producers can also forge transactions that effect any wallet on the network. This can be done only if 15/21 of the Block Producers agree on the course of action and publicly indicate their intention on the network. This means that Block Producers have the ability to reverse hacks, or exclude transactions on a subjective basis as well as restore accounts to those that have lost their seeds.

What good is a monetary system like Bitcoin if you forget your private key, lose your hardware wallet or more likely hacked and all your wealth is gone forever. Many will argue that ‘you have to look after your funds… you are the bank… blah blah blah’. But is this a reality or is this a justification of a poor deign framework? In a world filled with fraud, key theft, and scams, it is exciting to see that this is a blockchain that can provide safety and security to the participants rather than the bitcoin and ethereum philosophy of “too bad”.

The EOS.IO is about creating a governance structure that meets the needs of its users. Not happy with the governance, leave, sell the coins. The incentive mechanism of the EOS tokens however ensures that it is in the best interest of the token holders to have a robust governance model that works for all and that Block producers work together to build a blockchain that functions highly effectively.

To compare to the King of the North, Ethereum is the decentralised computer of the world but lacks efficiency, whereas EOS sacrifices some decentralisation for higher throughput. For many they see this is as a major downfall in its design but decentralisation is a continuum, and these bottom layer protocols, in which only a few will ultimately exist will range on that spectrum. EOS is not the decentralised network that many first envisioned but it does offer many of the benefits of blockchains with the added comfort of safety and security, it may not be perfect but with 4 billion dollars in the bank its going to be around for a long time.

People in this space can become quite tribalistic, which is great as competition leads to progress. Our quest for utopia should never be halted because if we give up on a quest for utopia we have lost the battle. As a quote from Oscar Wilde reads

“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias.”

EOS might bring us closer to utopia quicker than the others but the quest will never end.