Over the past week, EOS has been on an absolute tear, rallying by 40% in seven days’ time as most other crypto assets have stagnated. But why? Well, for months now, Block.one, the Cayman Islands-based company behind the protocol’s development and subsequent public sale, has been touting that something big is coming on June 1st.
Related Reading: Crypto Market Wrap: EOS Pumps 15 Percent as B1 Event Nears
No, what’s coming is not winter. Rather, Block.one’s has been purported to be a social media network based on the EOS blockchain. Despite the fact that these rumors went unsubstantiated for a period of time, Bloomberg recently confirmed that the blockchain company is looking to rival the social media incumbents with a decentralized solution.
Making Social Media Crypto-Friendly
In the recent article, which cited a press release, Bloomberg noted that Block.one will soon be launching Voice. The venture is purported to be an EOS-based ecosystem that allows users to post, share, and promote content, with each action and interaction purportedly intended to be registered on the underlying blockchain. On the matter of why such a project is needed, Block.one’s chief executive remarked:
“The truth is, current social media platforms are designed to use their users. It’s the platform, not the user, that reaps the reward.”
Indeed, current platforms are meant to secure data from the user, giving nothing but service — and arguably a toxic one — at that in return. Phil Chen, the head of HTC’s blockchain and crypto (EXODUS) division, broke down issues with the current applications of the web today in an interview with NewsBTC.
He told us that there’s clearly something wrong with the Internet today, as many “don’t own their crypto assets or data or identity”. Chen calls this issue “fundamentally wrong”, explaining:
“If there’s a sovereign identity that is you — things that you’ve created, attributes or characteristics that describe you — that you don’t own, there’s something entirely wrong, especially because we are this far into the information age, and there’s no concept of digital property — what is yours, what is mine. So the way we are trading these small conveniences in exchange for these micro invasions of privacy, and what is your digital property has major ramifications to many things, even to democracy.”
According to a German newspaper, Handelsblatt, Voice is looking to tackle this problem. Citing “financial insiders”, the publication claimed that this new EOS-based platform will allow for users to be compensated for interacting with other Voice users, and will act as a competitor to both Facebook and Instagram. On the matter of data, Dan Larimer, the chief technology officer of Block.one, has claimed in the past that this platform will not collect data, nor sell data to advertisers like Facebook.
As of the time of writing this piece, EOS is up 1.52% in the past 24 hours, finding itself at $8.12 a piece.
Skeptics Wary Of EOS News
In spite of this news, which would drastically increase EOS’ adoption, some have been skeptical of the upcoming product. Crypto trader and commentator Loomdart jokes that Block.one is effectively rebuilding Steemit, a crypto blogging and content sharing network, on EOS.
The funny thing is, Larimer is one of the minds behind Steemit, not setting the best precedent for Voice. Of course, Voice is not meant to be Steemit, but some are rightfully wary of crypto-enabled social networks.
As Delphi Digital’s Tom Shaughnessy further explains, “Block.one is at it again looking to tack on a use case for EOS which is already perfectly addressed by Twitter.” But there’s a kicker, the data on Voice will all be susceptible to the whims of EOS’ block producers, according to Shaughnessy anyway.
https://twitter.com/Shaughnessy119/status/1134557771964276737
What also has some worried is the fact that blockchain-based/crypto-enabled social media platforms have already had trouble gaining traction. Per previous reports from this outlet, Steemit late last year revealed that it would be cutting 70% of its employees, citing the “weakness of the cryptocurrency market, the fiat returns on our automated selling of STEEM diminishing, and the growing costs of running full Steem nodes.” Let’s hope Voice doesn’t have a similar fate.
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Chart Courtesy of TradingView.com