The EOS mainnet is less than a week old but already the much-vaunted blockchain has ran into a spate of issues ranging from the minor to the critical. Teething problems with new blockchains are to be expected, but the numeracy of these, coupled with a series of other anomalies, have had EOS critics scratching their heads and developers on the defensive.
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There’s Never a Dull Day in EOS Land
The EOS soap opera has made for compelling viewing in recent weeks. The level of hype and funds invested in the project meant a soft launch was never going to be possible. Satoshi appears to have launched bitcoin alone, with zero fanfare and the world oblivious. EOS, on the other hand, has launched following a year-long $4 billion raise, having excited half of the crypto community and the alarmed the other half.
The most recent issue was a bug which caused block production to stop over the weekend, forcing a conference call between Block.one, EOS’ developers, and the 21 block producers tasked with running the network. The cause of the problem appears to have been an error in the latest build, obliging EOS to resort to an earlier version of the code. This raises the question of how much testing is being performed on new code; it looks like Block.one is issuing updates that have not been thoroughly tested, forcing them to fix problems as they occur on the mainnet.
Features, Bugs, and Anomalies
While unfortunate, bugs are to be expected when an entirely new blockchain launches, and bitcoin and ethereum weren’t without their issues in the early days either. But there are troublesome aspects of EOS that are there by design, and whose presence is harder to explain. There’s the high amount of tokens that must be staked by developers, for instance, in order to run EOS dapps. The amount payable ranges according to the amount of network resources the dapp requires. Had Crypto Kitties been running on EOS at the height of the dapp’s popularity, it’s been suggested that the amount of tokens required to operate it would have ran into the millions of dollars.
And then there’s the complexity of creating an EOS wallet. Creating an account calls for obtaining the assistance of an existing account-holder. Without their input, it’s impossible for any newcomer to join the EOS ecosystem. In time, EOS dapps should make account creation easier, but until then, the public blockchain operates more like a closed system, with participants reliant on the support of other EOS holders to get the ball rolling.
Attaining the 15% quorum of votes to launch the network also proved to be a sticking point. Token holders were required to vote via a process that included entering their private keys. Due to the risk of being tricked by fake EOS dapps, most token holders chose not to vote, leaving the voting process stuck for days at below the 15% threshold.
EOS Oddities Have Failed to Dampen Market Enthusiasm
Despite all the drama, glitches, and oddities of EOS, the market has remained bullish on Dan Larimer’s blockchain. With so many token holders invested in the project, the community is willing EOS to succeed no matter what, and no amount of negativity – or FUD as the acronym goes – will be allowed to prevail. Even when a major bug was discovered in EOS prior to launch, followed by the hasty creation of a bounty program and the discovery of several more bugs, the market shrugged the problems off.
The enthusiasm for all things EOS can partially be attributed to the need for a fast and scalable blockchain. Even the network’s most ardent supporters will concede that EOS isn’t perfect, but given the alternatives – a sluggish ethereum and a handful of untested and unused blockchains – there seems little choice but to pray Block.one can prevail. With each passing drama, the pro and anti EOS brigades become more firmly entrenched in their positions. No other blockchain in the history of cryptocurrency has proven to be so polarizing. Whatever the future holds for EOS, it certainly won’t be dull.
Do you think EOS can shrug off these early setbacks and overtake ethereum as the number one blockchain for dapps? Let us know in the comments section below.
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