EOS, the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market cap may have opened at a price of $2.57 in January, but that’s not the case today. Trading as high as $8.10 in the month of May, certain events have caused its price to scale. One of such is the recent publication by Block.one, EOS’s software publisher of a big announcement that is coming on June 1, 2019, which crypto enthusiasts have assumed to be the launch of an EOS-powered social network.
EOS Gains Over 16 Percent in Price Within 24 Hours
According to CoinMarketCap’s platform, EOS was trading around $6.38 on May 26, 2019, at UTC-7:00. However, the virtual asset’s price spiked to $8.05 on May 27, 2019, at UTC-7:00, which is over a 16 percent increment in price within the space of 24 hours. One may assume that this price change was caused by more demand for the asset and they won’t be wrong even though there is more to it.
For starters, the price change was greatly influenced by Block.one’s tweet on May 25, 2019, that a big announcement will be made on June 1, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Keep in mind that June 1 is not just any other day on the calendar for the EOS community, but the one year anniversary of the first version of EOSIO, the blockchain protocol software that powers EOS network.
While Block.one may not have outrightly stated that it intends to launch a social network, cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been able to put one and two together to actually hit on what the blockchain platform has up their sleeves. For instance, the blockchain company recently obtained a trademark for MEOS and part of the trademark application outlined that:
“Providing temporary use of non-downloadable web and mobile application software for virtual community, social networking, photo sharing, electronic media sharing, and encrypted or otherwise secured messaging and media transmission; hosting an interactive web site that allows users to create profiles and participate in a social network in the field of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies…”
Block.One Social Network to Compete with Steemit
The proposed social network will be based on blockchain technology and it could potentially rival Steemit, a social platform that is also based on the distributed ledger technology. The competition with Steemit can be attributed to Daniel Larimer, Block.one CTO’s tweet on February 19, 2019, that: “What if you could decentralize social media more than steemit?”
At this point, one may wonder what may be so different from Block.one’s intended blockchain-based social network and those that are already existing since it promises the same seamless experience and decentralization. However, EOS has a large user base and as such, it can be expected that more people will adopt the platform and even the virtual asset in question.
Block.one Purchases 3.3 million EOS of RAM for $20MM
Just when we thought that the news was the last of its kind, EOS Block Producer “EOS New York” tweeted on May 27, 2019, that Block.one has purchased 3.3 million EOS of RAM for $20MM. The teaser further hinted that they may possibly launch a product on June 1.
Deducing from this, more than a social network can be expected on the said date and among these will be a road map and EOSIO 2.0. The roadmap, for instance, was hinted by Larimer on Telegram that a public roadmap will reveal all the company has been and will be working on. In another message, Block.one CTO’s stated that: “We will not sell data to advertisers” and“We will not collect data like Facebook does.”
Block.one has created a website specially tailored to enable users to keep up with the announcement and most likely, pique people’s interest. Despite this, one can only hope but wait to see what the platform has actually been hinting on all along. Will they release all the products that have been speculated on June 1, or have media outlets fantasized too much? Until then. Like Larimer pointed out on Telegram, “Please don’t overhype June 1. We have great news, and I’m excited about it. But overhyped will make even great news disappointment.”