What is EOS? How does the EOS blockchain work?

EOS holds the record for ICO collections — more than $4 billion. The platform’s token sale lasted almost a year — from June 26, 2017 to June 1, 2018.

High expectations are associated with the previous successful projects of the platform’s chief developer Dan Larimer and the platform’s claimed revolutionary scalability. Already at the development stage of the EOS blockchain, such large industry projects as Bitfinex, Bancor, Everipedia were used.

At the same time, before the launch of the mainnet, the EOS token increased 4 times the price.

The creator of EOS is a company block one. The platform is co-founded by industry veteran and blockchain visionary Dan Larimer (co-founder of Bitshares and Steemit). The platform code is freely available on Github. Community members are free to submit pull requests (suggestions to change the code), but Block.one has the final say.

There are also third-party developers who create related products: wallets, voting tools, and plugins. This is often done by the block validators themselves on the EOS network (block producers).

EOS developers combine existing blockchain solutions and proprietary technologies to create a functional DApps platform.

“We are creating a blockchain architecture that can potentially scale to millions of transactions per second, without fees, with fast and easy implementation of decentralized applications”— notes EOS team in the project FAQ.

• no transaction fees or “gas”. EOS is free to use;
• V whitepaper the developers claim that EOS will be able to process millions of transactions per second. For comparison, the bandwidth of the Ethereum network is up to 30 transactions;
• EOS uses the original DPoS (Delegated Proof-of-Stake) consensus algorithm. DPoS praise for scalability and low power consumption, but criticized for complex management structure And danger of centralization;
• the platform does not require knowledge of unique programming languages ​​— decentralized applications can be created in C++;
• network management model is a complex structure with prescribed Constitution the rules of the game. Relations between participants are regulated by smart contracts, and disputes that arise are resolved by a special arbitration body, the EOS Core Arbitration Forum (ECAF).

DPoS (Delegated Proof-of-Stake) is a consensus algorithm first developed by Dan Larimer in 2013 for his BitShares project. This protocol is also referred to as a form of “digital democracy”.

The difference between DPoS and PoS lies in the division of network participants into block producers and voters. In other words, not all EOS coin holders can be directly involved in the creation of blocks. In order to become a validator, a network member must fulfill two conditions:

• Have sufficient technical capacity to keep the node running smoothly 24/7.
• Maintain an impeccable reputation and spend resources on building a community and getting the necessary user votes.

If in PoS the chance to become a block validator depends on the number of coins blocked in the wallet, then in DPoS this role is played by the votes cast for the block producer by network members.

Unlike PoS, coins used in voting are not blocked in the wallet, but can be freely used. This will reduce the weight of the voter in the next vote. Another difference is the absence of a mandatory minimum amount of coins for voting.

The process of creating blocks in DPoS blockchains is divided into rounds. Each round has the following structure:

• Coin holders vote for Block Producers.
• The block producers with the most votes enter the pool, from which validators are selected for the next round of block creation. There are 21 block producers in each round, each producing 12 blocks.
• The validators approve the 252 blocks created during the round, and the process is repeated.

Each new EOS block is created by 21 validators. But there are many more who want to take this place.

Block producers are chosen by network members, and the weight of each vote depends on the amount of assets of the voter. From the pool of validators with the most votes, a queue is formed from which validators are selected for the next round of block creation.

A vote can be transferred to another validator at any time. It is also possible to vote for several block producers at the same time, and the votes will have equal power. The loss of user votes takes the validator out of the game. Such a political structure forces validators to refrain from abuse and, according to Larimer, should make collusion and over-centralization impossible.

The competition between block producers within the network is reminiscent of the political struggle of parties in an electronic democratic state. Unlike PoW blockchains, where political weight depends on computing power, EOS validators need to expand and develop the community around the project in order to increase their own political weight in the face of growing competition.

Traditionally, validators are fixed in the regions as the leading local block producers, which reduces the likelihood of a repeat of the centralized mining situation that bitcoin has fallen into. The largest block producer in Eastern Europe – Attic Lab.

In order to exercise your right to vote, you need to download the voting tool from the website of a Block Producer you trust.

The card was prepared in cooperation with the Block Producer Attic Lab.