In this issue of my Coin Spotlight series, I will give you an introduction to EOS, with the focus on explaining everything as simple as possible. It's safe to say that EOS is already well known in the Steemit community, in part because it's being developed by Steemit co-founder Dan Larimer aka @dan. Nevertheless, I still think that there's a significant amount of people that could still use a simple overview of EOS.

Image created by @daan using Gimp; EOS™ logo from Wikimedia

Basic Overview

EOS is best described as a platform on which developers can build and launch decentralized applications (Dapps). These decentralized apps will be able to directly compete with established centralized services like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc., due to being able to scale to handle millions of users.

EOS also features free transactions and the ability to handle around 1000 transactions per second at the start. The number of transactions it can handle goes up over time. Source

A very good example of a future Dapp on the EOS platform is Wikipedia-clone Everipedia. They are planning to move everything over to the EOS platform, once it's launched.

Image courtesy of user Geralt on pixabay

EOS Token Explained

You can currently buy EOS tokens through exchanges or directly via the EOS website. The price you pay may differ depending on which option you choose. It should also be noted that during this phase, you're buying an ERC-20 token, which can later be exchanged for EOS tokens. To do this, you must register your Ethereum wallet address on which you've received your purchased tokens. Distribution of native EOS tokens in exchange for your ERC-20 tokens will happen starting from June 1st 2018. Make sure you have your Ethereum address registered prior to this date!

@eos-helpguide has made an excellent tutorial on how to claim these tokens, one the EOS platform is launched

Image courtesy of eos.io

Roadmap

The EOS roadmap looks to be right on track, with most of the major milestones already having been reached. A recent development update from @dan shows us that a recent pre-release has cleared the path towards the official launch the first stable release, in June 2018.

You can now also register for their hackaton by sending in a video pitch with a proposal and getting enough community votes for it. With around 1.5 million US Dollars in prizes, I imagine this contest will produce some very interesting Dapps. It also shows that the pre-release will now undergo much-needed testing in preparation for their first stable release.

My personal views on EOS

It took me a pretty long time before I started looking into EOS, but it was @marketingmonk who pushed me over the edge, by releasing a mini series on EOS. Ever since I've watched the first episode, I've been increasingly more interested in finally learning about all of the future applications the EOS platform could have.

It seems to me that they have one key advantage over other similar platforms, that is the ability to scale towards being able to serve millions of users. If you look at @dan his previous projects, it becomes clear that he has no problem building blockchains that can handle massive amounts of transactions. Just take a look at Blocktivity, the top two blockchains in terms of activity have both been developed by Dan. So it's logical to assume that EOS will feature those same capabilities, but even more improved.