LONDON (Bywire News) - 21st of September will forever now be known as Independence Day for EOS as the community successfully completed its Antelope Leap 3.1 Consensus Upgrade. It’s a moment, which sees EOS complete its transition away from B1 with a codebase fully developed by the community for the community.
CEO of the ENF, Yves La Rose, stated: “Today is the hard-won culmination of our efforts to secure independence for the EOS blockchain. Thanks to the EOS Block Producers—through their trust, support, and their technical prowess, the ENF has been able to proceed unhindered in our mission to deliver value to the EOS Network. A special thanks to Zack Gall, for having the vision and the courage to step up, and be a part of this journey with me from day one.”
He added:
“Thanks to the many dedicated developers and project leaders who rallied together and coordinated this massive feat of engineering, our code is now on solid footing. Thanks to a diverse and resilient community, the momentum we have been steadily building, is now a force to be reckoned with. This is a great victory, but we can’t bask in our own glory for long, we have to keep moving! What becomes of EOS next, is what we make of it.”
Taking back control
The sight of a community taking control of the codebase in this way is unheard of in the crypto sector. It’s the culmination of the ENF’s efforts to liberate the code and create a thriving, truly decentralised blockchain.
Ever since the launch, EOS has had a habit of breaking records. It started with the record-breaking $4bn ICO. It offers world-beating levels of speed, sustainability and scalability. Now with the first committed coalition of networks migrating onto the Antelope Framework, it is set to make the next step onto an altogether grander scale.
Many people in the wider crypto community have associated EOS with the characteristic of DAO due to the way in which it reclaimed sovereignty from the direct leadership of B1. However, the true picture is somewhat more nuanced.
The ENF has, in many ways, assumed the leadership role vacated by B1. It does so with a mandate from the block producers and to serve the interests of EOS stakeholders for the long-term success of the ecosystem. So, while it does offer a road towards true decentralisation which is missing in many other blockchains, the ENF still works as a figurehead providing structure and direction to the innovation coming from the community.
Power to the community
While the first step is establishing a sense of authority like the ENF, the influx of talent that has followed is what helped EOS take control of its own future.
Before this upgrade, the network was stuck with the old EOSIO codebase. With a lack of upgrades from B1, it suffered from a wide array of unresolved issues. The ENF and EOS community engineers have spent most of this year forking the stable EOSIO 2.0 code into a new codebase known as Leap 3.1 using C++ implementation and several useful features supported by new partners OCI from EOSIO 2.1 and 2.2.
It’s a major step forward and one which Chris Barnes of Helios and the Telos Foundation believes is a testament to the strength of the EOS community.
“All blockchains are only as successful as their communities are cohesive. The EOS community has been through a lot over the past few years, and had it not been for a strong sense of unity while working towards a common, ambitious goal, EOS wouldn’t be where it is today; a blockchain still growing and finding its way forward.”
While they have forked the code, there are several new features which include transaction improvements, upgraded VM functions, block and SHiP pruning and many more.
Looking To The Future
With the consensus upgrade in place, EOS can now claim to have fully declared independence from Block.one. It puts the network in a perfect position to take control of its own destiny and establish itself as one of the most advanced blockchains in the world.
“EOS Independence Day is the day the EOS community celebrates the community’s victory on breaking free from its past constraints and limitations which initiated a change of focus towards true community goals including collaboration, open-source and ensuring the technology is ready to provide more secure & affordable services directly to the people, by the people,” said Vincent Grenier, the co-founder and CFO of the EOS nation. “In time, EOS will be a thriving ecosystem of P2P services bypassing most intermediaries and increasing our world’s efficiency, security, and integrity.”
None of this would have been possible without a community that is structured at uniting its aims and objectives together which evidently has been preserved against all odds. EOS has come a long way in a short space of time but as they are constantly at pains to stress, this is just the beginning
(Writing by Samba Jallow, editing by Tom Cropper and Klaudia Fior)