EOS turns 5, celebrates the community’s effort to rebuild

After setting the record for having the largest initial coin offering in history, the EOS network suffered various setbacks, including fines and allegations of market manipulation.

Celebrating the 5th anniversary of the EOS Network, the team behind the protocol highlighted the importance of the community as it looked back on the many challenges it had to face to revive the scalability protocol. 

After being launched in 2018, the EOS became known for its network’s performance and for conducting the largest initial coin offering (ICO) in history, with over $4 billion raised during the year-long fundraising process. Despite this, the project did not live up to the hype and expectations and encountered troubles with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

In September 2021, the protocol also faced allegations of market manipulation, with research claiming that the ICO was pumped by wash trades. Frustrated with the developments, the community formed the EOS Network Foundation (ENF) to attempt to rebuild the project.

The members of the EOS ecosystem expressed their dissatisfaction with the project’s developers and decided to fight for control over the network as they believed that they could no longer rely on Block.one.

Related: EOS Network Foundation reveals plans to pursue a $4.1B lawsuit against Block.one

According to ENF founder Yves La Rose, the community’s resilience played a huge role in putting the platform back on track. He explained: 

“As we commemorate the 5th anniversary of the launch of the EOS Network, I am profoundly inspired by the resilience of our community. We have endured much uncertainty standing against corporate greed in defense of our network.”

La Rose added that they have now emerged as champions of free and open-source software and are now on the way to advocating for innovation. In 2023, the protocol has seen positive developments like the launch of its EVM mainnet and securing a $60 million investment.

According to the team, the platform continues to cater to 100 million transactions per day. The team says that EOS has proven that it’s one of the most reliable blockchain networks, with more than 1,800 days of uptime since launch.

Magazine: Whatever happened to EOS? Community shoots for unlikely comeback