At BQT, we our curated list of asset pairs is and will perpetually remain a work in progress. That said, we’ve already listed BNB, Binance’s internal token on BQTX.COM. If it were a true cryptocurrency, it would be the seventh-largest by market cap. That suggest we need to examine the top six: LTC, BCH, XRP, ETH, BTC and, per this last installment, EOS.
Market cap
As of this writing, the market cap for EOS, is $5.5 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. That’s around 2.3% of all digital assets’ combined, but almost half of that trades every day. With the exception of Litecoin, no other cryptocurrency reviewed sees that much of its total value move in a day and, in fact, none of the other assets reviewed for this series even comes close.
Why it gets traded so frequently is a big of a poser. A couple years ago, when is still had that new-crypto smell, it was particularly volatile so there was a tremendous upside to day-trading it. Today, not so much. The reasons why it continues to froth is hidden behind a wall. And I mean that literally: The Great Wall. A reported 85% of EOS is held in China.
History
The EOS.IO platform, developed by Hong Kong-based (Caymans for tax purposes) BLOCK.ONE, was released as open-source software on June 1, 2018. In order to ensure widespread distribution of the native cryptocurrency at the launch of the blockchain, one billion tokens were distributed by BLOCK.ONE. This provided access for anyone to launch the EOS blockchain once the software was released.
BLOCK.ONE in turn is the brainchild of two of the crypto space’s most notable personalities. CEO Brendan Blumer, now 32, made millions off a unique idea he had when he was 15: We should all be able to exchange in-game currency. He started up a website which soon saw enough traction that he got bought out by former child star Brock Pierce — the kid who played Emilio Estevez’s character in flashbacks in The Mighty Ducks — who merged it into his IGE company.
CTO Daniel Larimer invented the proof-of-stake algorithm that many cryptocurrencies use to attain consensus. He also invented the Steem blockchain and the Steemit app. He also founded a more niche-y cryptocurrency called BitShares, which owns its own decentralized exchange. Oh, and he invented the Graphene middleware that makes all this go. No, I’m not jealous. Oh, and he’s worth at least half a billion bucks.
Use cases
We’ve written here — and you’ve read elsewhere as well — about the Bitcoin chain’s scalability issues. Ethereum’s might not have hit that crisis point yet, but it’s on a firm enough course that it’s safe to predict. EOS’s infrastructure, then, is intended to do everything Bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s can do, but at full, global scale.
The emphasis, from a use case perspective, seems to be focused more on superseding Ethereum. Hosting dApps, writing smart contracts and storing enterprise software are the digital asset’s stated goals. EOS.IO scores major points for decentralization, debottlenecking the process by multi-threading through multiple computer cores and delegating its proof-of-stake consensus protocol.
Oh, and it’s supposed to do all this for free.
It appears to be working. Larimer’s own Steemit and BitShares runs quite well on EOS.IO, using EOS as a utility token, primarily to buy RAM. Holders are further entitled to proportional shares of access to bandwidth and say-so on platform governance. There’s a proposed decentralized file system intended to compete Amazon Web Services, but on an ownership rather than a subscription model.
Current state
EOS is the semi-official cryptocurrency of mainland China. China’s Center for Information and Industry Development ranks EOS first overall and for basic technology. The token also gets relatively high marks under the other two criteria: applicability and creativity. I’m not sure if “creativity” is a compliment in the Politboro — I am sure it isn’t among monetary economists. Even so, an estimated 80% of EOS is held in China.
At any rate, EOS is joined in China’s Top 10 by the related STEEM and BTS tokens.
It’s important to note that CCID doesn’t rank by actual market cap or number of holders or any other commercial metric. Although ETH, which ranks second on CoinMarketCap and third by CCID, is celebrated on both league tables, it’s important to note that BTC, which accounts for almost half of all crypto value, is 13th on Beijing’s list.
Also, I have to ask the question: How important is it to be on top of China’s official list of favorite cryptocurrencies? Isn’t that like being the National People’s Congress’s favorite human rights activist? Holders should celebrate while they can but, if and when the People’s Bank of China issues its own central bank digital currency — and I’m going with when rather than if — I doubt that would have positive ramifications for EOS’s price.
Keeping perspective
Still, the CCID ranking is instructive in one way: It suggests what the preferred cryptocurrencies are in the most populous country on Earth. It tells us that such assets as TRON, Ontology, Lisk, NEO and Stellar have a built-in following, one that can only grow as more people are exposed to it.
We at BQT agree with Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari about the particular kind of faith that a monetary system needs to thrive. It’s a practical, inclusive sort of belief, as opposed to a political viewpoint or religious dogma.
“Money is the only trust system created by humans that can bridge almost any cultural gap, and that does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race, age, or sexual orientation. Thanks to money, even people who don’t know each other and don’t trust each other can nevertheless cooperate effectively,” Harari wrote in his 2014 bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. “For whereas religion asks us to believe in something, money asks us to believe that other people believe in something.”
If this goes for fiat currency, I believe it goes double for crypto.
Edward is an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist, Blockchain Enthusiast and visionary behind many successful organizations. An avid entrepreneur, Edward has a knack for designing distinctive business models complemented with superior technology to deliver unparalleled service and profitability. Edward also has been advising and consulting for various successful Blockchain technology and recently launched his own BQTX.COM Social Crypto exchange helping traders connect with each other to leverage their crypto assets.
BQTX.COM has been in development since March 2017 and its ICO launched September 18. The information can be found online at BQT.IO, on Telegram @BQTCommunity and on Twitter as @bqt_ico.