Eos, the fifth largest cryptocurrency, has recently finished its ICO, collecting $4 billion. Now a 48-hour test phase is being conducted and since eos has a slightly unorthodox approach, the development team will now step back in favor of the users, who will be running the operations.
Furthermore, futures trading in eos is now available at the cryptocurrency exchange Bitmex.
Test phase with two separate blockchains
During the test phase, two different teams will be running their own blockchains, whereof the most successful one will be chosen when going live. The teams deny being adversaries, but Coindesk has reported on tensions between the two.
Internal conflicts are common in the crypto world, so it is not farfetched to suspect that this will impact also eos.
Challenger to ethereum
Eos has been described as a blockchain-based operating system and a challenger to ethereum, which has been subject to scaling issues in the aftermath of increased usage.
The intention is that eos will be run by 21 “validators” through “proof of stake”. This means that a stake is needed to be part of the decision-making process, as opposed to ethereum and bitcoin which both are built on new coins being “mined” by spending computing power and electricity (“proof of work”).
Ownership is unclear
As always in cryptocurrencies, ownership details remain unclear, but Bloomberg News states that around 50 percent of eos tokens are owned by no more than ten stakeholders, whose identities are unknown.
The private company developing the project so far has kept around ten percent. This can be compared to tech IPOs, where the owners are said to keep 15 percent of the assets on average.
