If you consider yourself a veteran of the cryptocurrency game and you’re comfortable digging into projects like Bitcoin and Ethereum, you should probably learn how to buy EOS tokens.
The EOS project is an exciting one for many reasons. EOS is competing directly with Ethereum and similar projects for market share. The initial coin offering in June 2017 is still the most successful in in the history of cryptocurrency. It raised $4 billion for block.one, the Cayman Islands based company that owns the project.
Raising that kind of money instantly puts any crypto project on the map. The question is, is EOS maintaining that momentum today and will it continue to rank among the most valuable digital assets in the world as the blockchain industry continues to mature?
Let’s try to answer those questions and step behind the curtain of the project that still stands at the peak of the ICO boom.
Dan Larimer is the founder of the EOS blockchain. He’s also likely the biggest reason early investors find the project exciting. EOS isn’t Larimer’s first foray into cryptocurrency. Not by a long shot. He is also the founder of two other projects, BitShares and Steem. Both projects currently rank outside of the top 50 of the world’s most valuable cryptocurrencies by market share. However, both provide Larimer with credibility on some level because the two projects maintain active user bases.
BitShares is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that uses smart contracts to fulfill trades and allows investors to continue trading anonymously at a time when much larger exchanges like Binance are drawing criticism for their extensive Know Your Client requirements.
Steem on the other hand is a decentralized social media platform. It is the antidote to Facebook and Youtube. It allows users to monetize their content in a social setting without a central authority taking a cut of the transactions people are making on the platform. There’s also nobody around to censor the content. Users can share their views in the platform without anybody selling their personal data to advertisers or removing content from the platform due to a violation of some arbitrary list of terms and conditions.
While BitShares continues to hold its own against other decentralized exchanges in the market, Steemit deals with a bit more criticism. That’s because people on the platform that have more currency to bring to the platform can get their content to rank higher by spending that currency. Many critics argue that allowing this to continue means that users themselves become central authorities as they gain clout and drown out other participants. Still, even with the criticisms Steem faces, most cryptocurrency enthusiasts consider it to be a successful project and a good blueprint for what a decentralized social media platform should look like.
The relative success of both of these blockchains arguably make Larimer one of the most prominent figures in the blockchain space today. However, like many other projects making their name thanks to heavily funded ICO’s, EOS is not without its critics. The underlying mechanics that govern the use of its blockchain leads many to believe that it’s not truly a decentralized platform. On top of that, investor
Brock Pierce’s involvement in the project raises many questions about the motives of many stakeholders surrounding the project.
Nearly 20 years ago, Pierce cofounded the Southern California startup called Digital Entertainment Network. During his time with the company, three different former employees came forward with allegations of sexual abuse against Pierce. When HBO commentator John Oliver did a piece on cryptocurrency last year asking his audience to Google “Brock Pierce scandal”, a firestorm of controversy put the credibility of the EOS project under a microscope.
Arriving to the crypto world with a $4 billion grand entrance certainly came at a cost for EOS, but before diving deeper into that, let’s look at what EOS promises to do.
The EOS protocol attempts to emulate many of the real-world features that computer hardware offers. The features include things like computer processing units and graphics processing units, hard disk storage and random-access memory. Users on the network offer up all of these computing resources to the network in order to keep it going, which is why the project uses the trademark principle of decentralization to its advantage. EOS also uses the power of smart contracts to facilitate transactions. The whole point of these features is to scale the development and the use of industrial-scale applications through what’s known as DAOs, decentralized autonomous organizations (EOS actually states it as decentralized autonomous corporations, same thing).
Does this all sound familiar? It should. EOS is essentially aiming to be a better version of the Ethereum network. Both projects have a vision for how blockchain principles can be applied to the concept of building a world computer. They pose slightly different ways of getting there, as do projects like NEO and Cardano, but the goal is the same. The key hope in the minds of EOS creators and developers is that the transaction speeds of the EOS network will reach far greater heights than any other blockchain, and that issues related to scalability and consensus are conquerable.
However, like many other blockchain projects and ICOs past and present, EOS isn’t performing as well as investors are hoping. Part of the reason for that is that the entire alt coin market is slumping as bitcoin’s market share grows. Another reason for that is that many developers disagree about how the building and maintaining of the blockchain is progressing. A third reason for this is that the broader public itself still doesn’t understand the value proposition behind these blockchains and why society needs them.
The broader goals and the principle utility of both EOS and Ethereum are the same. They’re both building decentralized world computers, and they both use smart contracts to facilitate exchanges of value. That’s about where the similarities end, and there are plenty of technical and philosophical differences between the two projects.
One of the biggest differences from a technical standpoint is that Ethereum allows developers to rent computational power, where EOS allows developers to be owners. In ether speak, the amount of computing power a developer devotes to completing a given process is referred to as gas. The gas users pay out to the network eventually cycled through two miners, whose job it is to secure the network and validate transactions. App developers always have to pay this gas cost to use resources on the network.
Now let’s compare that to EOS. EOS is a world computer like Ethereum to an extent, but users take advantage of its benefits as if they are working on an operating system. They can use bandwith, computing power and memory to create decentralized applications, but they can’t hold onto tokens to pay expenses for an indefinite period of time the way Ethereum developers can.
Instead they stake tokens to the network in exchange for resources. On top of that, they have to buy RAM off of other users in the network since it’s more of a scarce resource. That’s why it’s said EOS developers own their resources, where Ethereum devs pay rent. The downside of not having to pay gas on the EOS network though is that EOS tokens are subject to the perils of inflation.
Transaction speed is probably the number one reason investors want to know how to buy EOS tokens. After all. Transaction speed is the most evident and marketable advantage the EOS blockchain presents over competitors. The fact there are no transaction fees on the EOS blockchain is big too. High speed and low/no cost are certainly both necessary features in the race to solve the fundamental issues of blockchain 3.0.
The fact that transactions on the Bitcoin network backlog when the crypto frenzy is at a fever pitch is well documented. Other blockchains need improvement too. EOS facilitates up to 3,000 transactions per second, which is certainly faster than most projects on the market.
The inherent challenge for EOS and all other blockchain-based payment networks right now is that old fiat-backed dinosaurs like Visa and Mastercard can handle something like 1,700 transactions per second. There is clearly still a ways to go for blockchain networks to topple of traditional payment methods.
Of course improving blockchains is about more than just transaction speed. It’s about improving efficiency and empowering individuals to take control of their own value without the need for a babysitter watching over everything.
Now that EOS’s value proposition is more evident, let’s talk about how to get some in your portfolio.
Right now the fact of the matter is a decentralized exchange platform offers users the best way to get their hands on some EOS tokens while keeping their name under wraps. The fact is ATM machines don’t offer EOS. However, there was a time when Bitcoin ATMs only dispensed digital gold and nothing else. As time goes on and more and more notable online platforms will make it easier to buy EOS tokens. ATMs might eventually catch on to the trend.
Until recently, LocalBitcoins.com was the best option for trading cash for Bitcoin anonymously, but now that’s dead. Anti-money laundering laws in the European Union are evolving. LocalBitcoins is based in Finland which is part of the Union. As such, the website now requires its users to go through Know Your Client registration.
In general it seems that LocalBitcoins is dead, but even if it wasn’t, an avid EOS investor would still need to go online to get the precious token.
Nevertheless, the project itself is reaching its outcomes and succeeding, albeit at a slower than expected paste and amid lots of criticism. The fact is most cryptocurrency projects making headlines a few years ago are now nothing more than digital dust in the wind. The best thing any crypto enthusiasts can do one investing in their project of choice is maintain a long-term view of things.
Expecting to 10x profits in the matter of months may not be a realistic goal and more given the current climate of the industry and the fact that the speculative hoopla surrounding digital currencies seems to have died down.
The good news is that EOS is available on Bitbuy Express Trade and Pro Trade and on the Bitbuy mobile app.
1) Sign Up For Bitbuy
2) Get Verified
3) Deposit Canadian Dollars Or Crypto
4) Trade For EOS!
As of May 30, 2019, EOS tokens are available for purchase with a credit card at Coinbase.com. The token joins Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin on the company’s roster of available digital assets. This means users simply register for an account on the website, upload identification as part of KYC requirements and purchase instantly. Beware, Coinbase does charge a high transaction fee in exchange for the convenience that platform provides, but it’s only nominally more expensive than using an exchange.
Using Coinbase is a great option for investors in the US who don’t currently own any cryptocurrency.
Given EOS usually not the first cryptocurrency that comes to a beginner’s mind, most investors who want to buy into this project will probably do it through an exchange. Binance.com offers the industry’s largest trading volume because it’s the most popular platform. Again, users do have to identify themselves with proper government documentation before being able to make trades.
Those who wish to try to keep their name of the map and support EOS’ founders can also use a decentralized exchange like BitShares. It works similar to other exchanges except that you buy and sell crypto through smart contracts instead of more simplified buy and sell orders carried out by a centralized website.
There is one catch to trying to get EOS through exchanges that users won’t face when buying more common currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Most exchanges don’t allow users to trade for EOS using fiat currency or stable coins pegged to the value of the U.S. Dollar. This means that before a trader can buy EOS tokens, they have to buy Bitcoin or in some cases Ether first. This means potentially making two trades and thus paying a bit extra in trading fees just to get the desired tokens.
