The brooding battle for altcoin supremacy
Lately, the feud between EOS and Ethereum is growing bizarre. While there is a lot of technical difference between the two platforms, many believe that in the near term one must succeed at the expense of the other. An interesting thing to look at is the way members in both camps have tried to affirm the superiority of their platform and I think this is just way too childish. Maybe after all, blockchain is still in its infancy.
Just in case you are not familiar with EOS, you can read this snap overview of the platform. It is a locked post.
Many years ago, at the dawn of the rise of the Internet, there were deep issues that created enmity and conflict between two companies who saw themselves as competitors. But in the end, even if they stayed competitors, the market became big enough for everybody. IBM who started at the very early years of tech revolution had to constantly reinvent themselves again and again to meet up with the standard of present tech age. Facebook who we can say is relatively new to the game isn’t playing either. We have those who have lost out, like Yahoo (who were one time kings of the internet but now just a segment of a company). The main characteristic of those that are still standing is not the product or service but rather their commitment to relevance.
I consider Ethereum like the company IBM. EOS however is just like any of the tech companies that sprang up in the days of Gates and Jobs. It is almost certain that Ethereum is here to stay. Not because their solution is the best, rather because they have a solid, committed team, a strong community and they already have a considerable number of users on their platform. And the number may not grow as fast as other platforms in the future, but I don’t think it will be dropping. Ethereum has a lot of work to do on their platform as they need to solve many cogent problems, the biggest of which is scaling. A congested Ethereum network is not going to be good for the whole blockchain community (even when other options are live).
Honestly, EOS shows promise but promise can only carry a project for a while. Results is needed to change the story of the project. There is need to make the shift from promising to good as the world awaits the first dapp on EOS (or is a dapp live on the EOS blockchain already?) Some in the camp of EOS believe that developers are going to leave Ethereum for EOS, but life doesn’t work that way. It is still too early for developers to be jumping around. EOS needs to lure developers who have not been attached to Ethereum into their platform. And this they need to do before other platforms wake up and the marketplace becomes crowded.
One “competitor” EOS should be wary about is Lisk. Lisk brings programming in JavaScript to blockchain. I have a developer friend who is still busy outside the blockchain world, and while I want him to get on the blockchain wagon I’m kind of stalling because of Lisk. He already knows JavaScript. I don’t know if he will have the time to commit to learn another programming language to develop dapps. So, Lisk with the sidechains and JavaScript language seems a juicy offer. But let’s see how long it will take for the Lisk platform to be ready for developers.
Here is a snap overview of Lisk if you are interested. It is a locked post however.
Of course, it won’t be fair at this point if we do not talk about NEO. Another strong competitor on the market. There hasn’t been much noise about NEO and that to me is a good sign. It gives the platform room for healthy growth. A couple of ICOs are already favoring the NEO platform, but NEO is not without it’s own problems.
One hard question considering these platform is this; do we really need decentralization for these? It’s a tough question that has strong points on both sides but I believe only time will reveal the real answer. I don’t believe EOS needs Ethereum to fail so they can succeed. Likewise, all the other platforms. Like the giant tech companies, their destinies is in their own hands. EOS and Ethereum can thrive side by side and even while staying fierce competitors. As similar as Pepsi and Coca cola is, one has not killed the other (yet). And both of those companies have been around for a while. So, calling EOS the Ethereum killer is just a publicity stunt. If Ethereum is going to die, it’s in the hands of Vitalik and the people working on it. Platforms can always reinvent themselves.
Disclaimer: I have tried not to overly favor any side, but I must declare that I am not trying to shill anything. EOS and NEO are coins I have owned in the past. I do not own any of them as of writing, but I could in the future. I have never owned Lisk (even though I think the project is a good one). And I have a little Ether, quite insignificant to the rest of my portfolio though. I trade altcoins, I don’t hold them for the long term (yet).
Cheers!