The EOS[1] blockchain is set to launch today, June 9, according to the results of a live-streamed vote[2] that took place yesterday, June 8.
Candidates to become the EOS blockchain’s so-called “Block Producers” – the equivalent of miners on the Bitcoin[3] blockchain – voted “Go” in their latest voting session to make the EOS mainnet go live at 1:00pm UTC today. The community has yet to confirm that a successful launch has taken place as of press time.
EOS LAUNCH IS A GO! The blockchain will launch at 1300 UTC Saturday. GO EOS!! #eosio #blockchain #cryptocurrency[4][5][6]
— EOS Go (@go_eos)
The news comes a week after EOS’ creator, blockchain software developer Block.one, released version 1.0[8] of the blockchain protocol EOSIO to the public. The EOSIO software is designed to let enterprise-level and “community-driven” businesses build scalable blockchain-based applications.
EOSIO, which commentators expect to compete directly with Ethereum (ETH)[9] as a protocol for building decentralized applications (Dapps), also received a new boost of funding last week. The same day Block.one released EOSIO 1.0 to the public, the company announced the launch[10] a $50 mln fund to support the development of the EOSIO “ecosystem”, in partnership with London-based blockchain investor, SVK Crypto.
On June 1, Cointelegraph reported[11] that EOS had completed its year-long token sale, raising a record-breaking $4 bln to become the largest Initial Coin Offering (ICO[12]) in history.
EOS is currently the fifth largest cryptocurrency[13] by market capitalization, with a market cap of $12.8 bln. The coin has seen just over 3 percent growth over the past 24