EOS Declares Independence with Consensus Upgrade to Antelope Leap 3.1

“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. 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.”

“EOS independence signifies the power of people over the tech. Nothing is impossible, just not done yet. And now we can remove ‘A Community taking over the codebase and taking things into their own hands’, from the list of impossible things.”

“For me personally, this represents a fundamental point whereby we see the full power of a decentralized network and community in action. It reached consensus on wanting a new direction for the way the network was run, and wanted to ensure the development of the technology was aligned with that.  Therefore this represents a major milestone for me, both in the governance and maturity of EOS. It’s an incredibly positive series of steps that have the potential to realize the technical prowess of Antelope fully.”

“Not since the launch of the EOS network itself have we seen such a display of unity. For EOS to achieve a system-wide consensus upgrade and officially adopt the community-led Leap 3.1 codebase as its source of truth is a truly monumental achievement. The next chapter has begun for the new EOS.”

“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.”

“The critical resource of any blockchain network is its community. Over the long term, protocols and code can radically change and in fact should change to meet the needs of the community they serve. Whenever a contentious hard fork occurs in some blockchain community which splits the core token of the community, it is the community that gives value predominantly to the token of one branch of the split over the token of the other. But the community does still critically depend on the proper functioning of the code that underpins the blockchain and makes the coordination and consensus of the community feasible. For too long, the EOS Network had depended on a single unmotivated for-(their-own-)profit company to maintain and improve its core blockchain code and through that dependence the EOS Community has passed up several opportunities to achieve a brighter future for the Network and themselves. The Community has now accepted that continuing with that approach leads to nowhere and in the last year has come together to sever that unhealthy dependence and instead take control over their own future. A key part of that independence is ensuring the core blockchain code continues to improve in alignment with the interests of the EOS Community, which the Community has now achieved through the means of the EOS Network Foundation. The release of the Leap 3.1 software, and in particular the activation of the new Antelope protocol features introduced in Leap 3.1 on the EOS Network blockchain, marks an important milestone in this independence in which the Community demonstrates to the world that the EOS Network now runs on code maintained by the EOS Network Foundation on behalf of the EOS Community.”

“EOS independence is significant because it marks a long-desired moment of alignment between EOS ecosystem growth drivers and EOS community members. For far too long, the EOS ecosystem suffered due to a lack of leadership, which the ENF has stepped in and fulfilled in a professional and passionate manner. The success and failure of EOS hinges on all of us in the community now, and we have the tools we need to get to work. Thanks to all who have stuck it out and done their best to contribute, despite the odds and at some points, low morale. We are all stronger for having been through those hard times.I am excited to be a part of the next phase of EOS, and to see it prosper on the efforts of our newly found Antelope herd. It’s a dream to see a legitimate multi-chain strategy rise; we are stronger together!”

“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. In time, EOS will be a thriving ecosystem of P2P services bypassing most intermediaries and increasing our world’s efficiency, security, and integrity.”

“For me, EOS independence means letting go of old things, eliminating differences, uniting common interests and leaping ahead. It means fighting to help bring our favorite technology to the forefront of the crypto industry.”

“As we stand before a significant fork, I’m grateful for the ability to do so. Change is constant, but some human constructs are deliberately fixed. It’s encouraging to have tools to better react to change. What’s changing for EOS is leadership. Our community is being fueled. From here, we can grow EOS without being encumbered by bureaucracy. EOS Independence means a fresh start. It’s significant because EOS may not get another one. We are ready.”

“For me, EOS Independence means the start of a new era of self-determination, a strengthening from the core and a wonderful chance to lift the old burdens and reliances recreating the future through the virtue and strength of the community.”