Block.one Plans to Start Voting on EOS, the Blockchain It Birthed

Block.one plans to start actively voting for EOS block producers sometime next month.

The Cayman Island-based developer house announced Wednesday that, having watched EOS develop over the past two years, it now thinks the time is right for it to come off the sidelines and begin actively contributing to the network.

“Hundreds of BPs and SBPs have contributed a tremendous amount of code, knowledge, and leadership. Initially, in the coming weeks, we plan to use our voting stake to begin highlighting and voting for many of these candidates, potentially even in rotation, to showcase these organizations’ achievements, values, and network contributions,” the post said, referring to block producers and standby block producers.

Block.one has been looking to participate since a month after the network launched in June 2018. In a July post that year, the company said it would vote for block producers, though this did not happen.

Block.One announced its intention to begin participating in governance in November. At the time, the company said it wanted to play a “proportional role” in suggesting new proposals as well as supporting projects and teams contributing to the overall health of the network.

Following the $4 billion initial coin offering (ICO), Block.one allocated itself 10 percent of the total EOS (EOS) token supply. But its share has slowly declined as new EOS tokens have entered the ecosystem from BPs validating new blocks. Eighteen months after the ICO, in November 2019, the company’s share was down to 9.5 percent percent.

As of press time, the most widely supported EOS block producers have support from 2.67 percent of the voting EOS tokens. Block.one’s control of 9.5 percent of the supply means that its support could be potentially decisive for any block producer.

Per Wednesday’s release, Block.one said it would begin playing an active role first by vocally supporting BPs that have already added code, and it will support block producers who “adhere to the standards we wish to see network wide,” the company said.

“Block.one believes staking systems will be a critical component of the future tokenized economy, and to ensure maximum network security and constructive participation, Block.one will begin staking and voting its EOS token position,” the company added.