What Is EOS?

EOS is a blockchain platform designed for building and deploying high-performance decentralized applications. Originally developed by Block.one — a Cayman Islands-based company — and created by Dan Larimer (who also created BitShares and Steem), EOS launched in June 2018 after a year-long token sale that raised approximately $4 billion, making it one of the largest initial coin offerings in cryptocurrency history. The network is now guided by the EOS Network Foundation (ENF), an independent community-led organization that took over stewardship after the community grew dissatisfied with Block.one's level of involvement.

Overview - Table of Contents
What Is EOS?
Getting Started With EOS
How To Get An EOS Wallet?
EOS Resources
How To Buy EOS?
Latest EOS News

Delegated Proof of Stake

EOS uses Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), a consensus mechanism where EOS token holders vote for 21 block producers who validate transactions and produce blocks in rotating rounds. Block producers are elected continuously — their position is not fixed, and they can be voted out at any time if the community is dissatisfied with their performance. This design enables high throughput and fast block times of 0.5 seconds without the energy consumption of Proof of Work mining. The relatively small number of block producers has been a persistent point of debate: critics argue it creates centralization risks, while supporters maintain that the accountability of continuous elections and the performance benefits justify the trade-off. Voter turnout and the potential for vote-buying among block producers have been ongoing challenges for the governance model.

The Resource Model: Fee-less Transactions

A distinctive feature of EOS is its resource model, which works fundamentally differently from the gas fee systems used by Ethereum and most other smart contract platforms. Instead of paying per-transaction fees, EOS users stake tokens to reserve network resources: CPU (computation time), NET (bandwidth), and RAM (on-chain storage). Once resources are staked, transactions are effectively free for end users. This model was designed to enable consumer-facing applications where users do not need to hold cryptocurrency or understand blockchain mechanics to interact with an application. EOS has been described as a "decentralized operating system" — developers who hold EOS tokens can deploy applications on the network in much the same way that owning server capacity lets them deploy traditional web applications.

Smart Contracts and Developer Tools

EOS smart contracts are written in C++ and compiled to WebAssembly (WASM), offering high execution speed compared to the interpreted virtual machines used by some competing platforms. The platform supports human-readable account names (up to 12 characters) instead of long hexadecimal addresses, making user interaction more intuitive. EOS also provides built-in account-based permissions, allowing fine-grained access control (for example, separate keys for transferring funds versus updating a smart contract). Multi-signature transactions and account recovery features are built into the protocol, and applications can share frameworks and libraries to accelerate development.

The ICO and Block.one History

The EOS token distribution ran for 341 days beginning June 26, 2017, structured in phases: 200 million tokens (20%) were distributed during the first five-day period, 700 million tokens (70%) were split across 350 consecutive 23-hour periods, and 100 million tokens (10%) were reserved for Block.one. The extended distribution was designed to give participants time to evaluate the project and to promote wide token distribution. However, the uncapped fundraise drew criticism — with billions of dollars raised and no hard cap, questions arose about how the excess funds would be managed. Block.one ultimately settled with the SEC for $24 million over conducting an unregistered securities offering.

Dan Larimer departed Block.one in early 2021, continuing a pattern of moving on from projects he founded (having previously left both BitShares and Steem). Block.one's diminishing engagement with the EOS ecosystem led the community to establish the EOS Network Foundation as an independent entity to fund development, coordinate upgrades, and rebuild the ecosystem.

EOS EVM and the Antelope Coalition

Under the ENF's leadership, EOS has undergone significant revitalization. The EOS EVM was launched as a compatibility layer that allows Ethereum smart contracts (written in Solidity) to run on the EOS network, bridging the two ecosystems and giving EOS access to Ethereum's developer tooling and DApp ecosystem. The core protocol is developed as part of the Antelope coalition alongside other DPoS chains including Telos and WAX, sharing a common open-source codebase. Tokenomics changes were implemented to reduce inflation and improve the sustainability of the network's economic model.

Getting Started With EOS

Getting started with EOS:

Step 1: Create an EOS account. Unlike most blockchains, EOS uses human-readable account names (up to 12 characters).
Step 2: Purchase EOS from a major cryptocurrency exchange.
Step 3: Transfer EOS to your account. Note that EOS transfers to exchanges require a memo field.
Step 4: Stake EOS for network resources, vote for block producers, or explore DeFi and EOS EVM applications.

How to Get an EOS Wallet?

Anchor Wallet

Anchor is the most popular EOS wallet, developed by Greymass. It is available as a desktop application for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Anchor supports all EOS features including resource management, block producer voting, and DApp interactions through its built-in browser.

Wombat Wallet

Wombat is a mobile and browser extension wallet for EOS that simplifies account creation and provides a user-friendly interface for managing EOS tokens, staking, and voting.

Hardware Wallets

Ledger hardware wallets support EOS and can be used with compatible wallet software like Anchor for secure offline key storage.

EOS Resources

How to Buy EOS?

EOS is available on many major exchanges:

Centralized Exchanges

EOS can be purchased on Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, and other exchanges. Most offer EOS/USD and EOS/BTC pairs. Note that EOS transfers require a memo field when sending to exchange deposit addresses — omitting the memo can result in lost funds.

Decentralized Exchanges

On the EOS network, Defibox is a popular DEX for native EOS token swaps. EOS is also available through the EOS EVM ecosystem's decentralized exchanges, which support Ethereum-compatible tokens and trading pairs.

Latest EOS News

Under the EOS Network Foundation's leadership, EOS has undergone significant revitalization. The EOS EVM brings Ethereum compatibility to the network, the Antelope coalition develops the core protocol alongside other DPoS chains, and tokenomics changes aim to improve network sustainability. The ENF has focused on developer tooling, ecosystem grants, and rebuilding community trust after the Block.one era.