A New Dawn

After years of waiting on B1 to deliver, the EOS Foundation provides a path forward.

I first entered the crypto space in 2016. A little over a year later, I joined the EOS community, where I found a home. At the time, EOS was in the middle of its year-long ICO, and the price was a little over $2. 

When I joined the EOS community, I very much considered myself a crypto-noob. The community welcomed me with open arms, but I didn’t have much to contribute. So I just listened and learned. Like many genesis holders, I spent my nights on Telegram following the exchanges between Dan, Brendan, and a community made up of exceptional minds with strong opinions. The community was unified, energized, and hungry. 

Not long after the EOS mainnet officially launched, I got up the courage to have an opinion. I wrote a couple of pieces that EOSwriter published, and they were pretty well-received. At the time, EOS was awesome. There was an explosion of development from community-centric BPs as well as entrepreneurs looking for on-chain opportunities.

To me, a big part of the allure of crypto has always been the community dynamic. You have people from all over the world putting in enormous time and energy to bring a common goal to light. While the EOS community was hardly ever in agreement on anything, the belief was always that the collective would always find a way to prevail whenever faced with an obstacle. 

For the next couple of years, I occasionally wrote what I believed were honest and balanced perspectives on the state of EOS. I wrote pieces on BPs and voter rewards and even gave the community a reason to laugh at themselves with a weekly feature called EOS Popcorn. 

Some of the writing I was most proud of was critical analyses of B1 and its negative impact on the community (I wish I could link to them, but Voice). Like many, I spent a reasonable amount of time believing B1 genuinely cared about the success of EOS and the community driving it. Like you, I thought interests were aligned, and all of our patience and hard work would be rewarded. But like you, I was disappointed time and time again. Even then, I wanted to believe that the chain just needed another upgrade or we were just waiting for the green light from regulators. Blah, blah blah. The community continued to be disappointed time, after time.

You see, it’s difficult after you’ve spent years of your life invested in B1’s “grand” vision to wrap your head around the idea that there isn’t going to be a payoff in the end. That all those carrots B1 dangled in front of the #EOS community for three years were poison, paralyzing any forward movement. 

After years of making excuses for B1 and not wanting to believe it, I finally accepted it. If B1 cared about the community, then why wasn’t EOSVC investing in the community? If B1 cared about the community, then why haven’t they launched a single product on-chain? If B1 cared about the EOS community, why are they spending an outrageous 30-million on a domain name when BPs and developers who are building tools for this community are struggling to stay afloat?

So here we are. Three years later, and still no avenue for funding. EOS development is at an all-time low, with most of the community leaving long ago for greener pastures.   Some will point towards Eden as the lone bright spot, but in its current and underwhelming state, I’m not sure Eden can be considered a representative of the wishes of this community. I do believe with time and funding, Eden can grow into a robust component of the ecosystem. But as of today, there’s no guarantee. 

A New Dawn

When I woke up this morning to the news of the EOS Foundation lead by Yves La Rose, I was ecstatic and somewhat surprised he had the Canadian bacon to take the reins in this initiative. Is the foundation ballsy move? Yup. Is it a centralized body? It’s exactly the type of thing that will actually be able to get EOS out of this mess. I don’t know Yves personally, but I do know he bleeds E-O-S and has been a trusted pillar of both the Eastern and Western communities for as long as I can remember. This is important. When it comes down to BPs reaching consensus on a proposal, whether it be to release ramfee or allocate inflation, who better?

As expected, the announcement has been met with resistance. While most of the blowback seems to stem from a vocal minority with nothing at stake, there is also warranted concern from some in the Eden community who are trying to understand how Eden figures into the equation. As more details emerge, I’d expect most to rally behind the EOS Foundation. 

For the last three years, the EOS community sat, afraid to act, handcuffed by the presumption that a well-funded entity (B1) would come to their rescue. It never happened. The EOS Foundation can provide everything B1 should have and more. A clear path to infuse much-needed funding, leadership, and excitement into a community that gravely needs it. 

Vamos EOS!

Read Yves letter: HERE

Read Dan’s letter in support: HERE