EOS

The open-source EOSIO blockchain protocol was founded in 2017 by blockchain software company Block.one (B1). B1 was led by CEO Brendan Blumer and CTO Dan Larimer. Beginning in June 2017, B1 conducted a year-long initial coin offering (ICO) on Ethereum. By the end, B1 raised $4.1 billion, by far the largest in ICO history. B1 released the open-source EOSIO codebase in mid-2018. A week after, the EOS Network, built using the EOSIO framework, launched. After launch, B1 slowly stopped upgrading the core EOSIO protocol and largely did not re-invest ICO proceeds back into the EOS Network and ecosystem.

The EOS community grew increasingly frustrated by B1’s lack of commitment and failed promises. In August 2021, the non-profit EOS Network Foundation (ENF) was founded by Yves La Rose, former CEO of EOS Nation, a block producer and node infrastructure company. With funding support from the network’s block producers, the ENF began taking a broad review of EOS’s technology and ecosystem, identifying improvement areas and proposing solutions through working groups and grants.

In December 2021, EOS block producers passed a proposal to freeze B1’s EOS token vesting contract (beyond the ICO, B1 had received 10% of the initial EOS supply at launch, which was unlocking linearly over 10 years). In September 2022, the community-ownership effort culminated in a hard fork from the EOSIO codebase to a new Antelope codebase, along with several new features. The open-source Antelope protocol is maintained and upgraded by the Antelope Coalition, a group of teams from EOS, WAX, Telos, and UX Network — all networks that were originally based on EOSIO.