Is it game over for EOS?
What is going on with EOS?
A recent report has suggested not everything is well with EOS, the so-called ‘Ethereum Killer’, which launched on 2 June 2018.
Highlighting the decline of Github commits for the protocol as well as dapp developer and user activity has resulted in a spate of headlines over the technology’s future.
Certainly, it’s fair to say EOS has struggled in its initial aim of displacing Ethereum as the #1 blockchain for smart contracts.
Over the past two years, Ethereum has consolidated its hold over the dapp development community as well as accelerating its momentum with users, especially in terms of the activity and value within the DeFi and Exchange categories.
And although it’s not the main driver of price, it is significant that this rise in activity has happened alongside an increase in the ETH token price and growing bullish sentiment, at least from some elements of the Ethereum community.
In contrast, blockchains such as EOS and TRON (another ‘Ethereum-killer’ which launched in the summer of 2018) haven’t gained traction in terms of users, and at best, have only maintained their token prices, at least when compared during the period from 1 January 2019.
If we consider the total number of users across all EOS dapps tracked by DappRadar during this period, there’s a collapse in activity during October 2019 — noticeably driven by the gambling category — which EOS still hasn’t been recovered from.
Compared to the normalized totals from 1 January 2019, daily dapp activity is currently down 40% while EOS token price is only marginally higher.
Incidentally, for TRON, dapp activity is actually pretty good, up 200% since January 2019, but more general negative sentiment around the protocol has driven the TRX token price down.
So what happens next for EOS and TRON as smart contract platforms?
Following its disastrous takeover of the Steem blockchain, TRON is now all about its new TRON v4 release, which you can read about in more detail here.
The situation for EOS is more nuanced, however.
For one thing, despite the collapse in gambling dapp activity, EOS has become the top smart contract blockchain for gaming.
Three of the top five and six of the top 10 blockchain games in terms of daily activity run on EOS.
Indeed, if you include the WAX blockchain, which like EOS uses the EOSIO SDK but in customized, non-compatible manner with EOS, those totals would be four of the top five and seven of the top 10.
This flexibility is further demonstrated by a number of high profile games and projects in development which won’t run on the mainnet but are using the EOSIO code.
PC and console game Blankos Block Party is one, while the PC game distribution platform Ultra is another.
Of course, Block.One’s much anticipated Voice social network is another example of a product that won’t run on EOS but is using the EOS.IO technology.
In this way, while the future of the blockchain and the token remains unclear, the wider EOSIO ecosystem is only just getting started.
We will continue watching this space. Make sure you bookmark DappRadar and sign up to our newsletter below to get updates direct to your inbox.
Originally published at https://dappradar.com on June 18, 2020.
