Dialogue with the head of the EOS Network Foundation: Block.one does not believe they owe the community

Author: Rhythm

On February 10, Yves La Rose, leader of the EOS Network Foundation (ENF), updated on Twitter that the EOS Network Foundation is taking all possible legal measures to demand Block.one return the $4.1 billion raised during the EOS crowdfunding phase. Block.one's negligence over the years has severely harmed the EOS ecosystem, and they should be held accountable for their breach of trust by returning the assets that rightfully belong to the EOS ecosystem.

EOS suddenly took new actions. On December 8 of last year, the 17 main nodes of the EOS network passed and executed a proposal to "stop releasing B1's account tokens."

At that time, the B1 account held 68 million EOS. According to the approved proposal, a balance of 2 million EOS in the B1 account could be used, but the remaining 66 million EOS would no longer be accessible.

In the past few years, the EOS chain has been "hard to describe," starting at its peak and now almost becoming a meme. But now, the community, represented by the ENF, seems to want to bring about change for EOS. Rhythm BlockBeats spoke with ENF leader Yves La Rose to hear his views on ENF, Block.one, and the future of the EOS network.

About ENF

Rhythm BlockBeats: Yves, you were previously at EOS Nation, and I remember the nodes were doing quite well. Why establish ENF?

Yves: After stepping down as CEO of EOS Nation, I took a step back and spent two months reflecting on the EOS ecosystem from different perspectives. I sought advice from many people in the community who have supported me throughout my career. In those conversations, I recalled what initially attracted me to EOS and the magic many of us felt as inspiring community members, while also considering the real challenges we face in revitalizing EOS.

During my time as CEO of EOS Nation, I learned about these issues, and now I have a new understanding and the opportunity to reflect. The vast majority of feedback I received indicated that establishing an EOS Foundation was the most likely way to turn things around and steer EOS in the right direction.

I believe EOS is still an incredible technology, with some of the best and brightest community members in the entire blockchain space. Their knowledge and expertise can be seen in the blueprints we recently published, which are being used to guide our roadmap to make EOS the best blockchain ecosystem in the world.

Rhythm BlockBeats: EOS initially had many organizations, such as arbitration courts and foundations, but they have all faded away. What makes ENF different from those previous organizations?

Yves: Those organizations, or other attempts to establish an EOS Foundation, did not gain consensus from the BPs (nodes), so there was no way to coordinate the collective capital needed to fund the entire ecosystem's resources.

Due to Block.one's unwillingness to take on this role, EOS and its community have lacked leadership and direction for many years. During that time, I had high hopes for the achievements of B1 or the EOS Foundation, and now, as the Executive Director of ENF and a leader of EOS, I have a responsibility to fulfill those expectations.

About the Lawsuit

Rhythm BlockBeats: What stage is the investigation at now? What aspects are being investigated?

Yves: This is an ongoing investigation, so I cannot comment on the evidence that has already been collected. However, we recently issued a call to action to the EOS community, asking them to submit additional evidence related to their personal and business experiences with Block.one and EOS. Any relevant information can be sent via email to b1xentation@eosn.Foundation.

Rhythm BlockBeats: Is potential legal action already determined to be a lawsuit?

Yves: All legal avenues are under discussion, including but not limited to class action lawsuits or other representative litigation. As the case progresses, we will continue to share more details.

Rhythm BlockBeats: You mentioned on Twitter that there will be lawsuits against many of Block.one's negligent actions. Can you tell us what you consider to be Block.one's negligent actions? For example, lack of ecosystem support?

Yves: In fact, Block.one previously stated they would invest in the EOS network, and then EOS members rushed into EOS due to Block.one's attitude. This situation is more serious than token financing. The problem is that Block.one did not follow through on their promises, which means the members' investments were in vain.

Rhythm BlockBeats: I find it interesting that action against Block.one is only starting now. Dissatisfaction should have begun in 2019; why is there action three years later?

Yves: It wasn't until August 2021 that ENF was authorized by EOS nodes to represent the EOS network and its participants. Block.one's breach of trust has affected all network participants. Given this, we believe ENF has the moral authority to investigate the extent of the harm suffered by the network and conduct a comprehensive review of how to correct the wrongs.

One of the purposes of our recent announcement regarding the lawsuit against Block.one is to inform EOS community members that we understand their concerns, that they have been treated unfairly, and to assess the level of interest in seeking legal recourse for the network. In the future, we will continue to consult with community members and stakeholders on this issue while exploring all possible solutions.

Rhythm BlockBeats: Recently, during the incident where nodes froze the B1 account, ENF represented the community in negotiations with B1. You modified various proposals to satisfy both parties, but the negotiations still broke down. Did B1 express anything after the account was frozen?

Yves: After taking action on December 7, there has been no formal communication with Block.one. They even disabled the comment feature on Twitter for Brendan Blumer and Bullish accounts, making it more difficult to contact them than ever before.

In fact, since late November, the official EOS account, which has 263,000 followers, has had virtually no presence, even less than before. They also failed to provide any formal communication or blog updates on eos.io in mid-November or on b1.com on December 6.

Rhythm BlockBeats: I understand that the lawsuit seems to be an escalation of the account freezing incident. Can I interpret this as you not achieving the results and conditions you wanted? What conditions are you ultimately seeking?

Yves: One of the ultimate goals in negotiations with Block.one is to secure a certain amount of external funding for the ongoing development of EOS, without being consumed by EOS's inflation. However, Block.one does not believe they owe anything to the EOS community.

Rhythm BlockBeats: Do you hope to completely exclude Block.one from the EOS ecosystem?

Yves: Block.one is still an EOS holder, and we welcome them to contribute to EOS in any capacity as a private entity holding tokens.

About EOS

Rhythm BlockBeats: In the past two years, from the black swan crash to the super bull market, to DeFi, NFTs, Layer 2, and new Layer 1s, none of these tracks seem related to EOS. What have you been doing during this time? What is ENF doing?

Yves: EOS is still one of the high-performance blockchains that has been tested in the field, and it will soon enable Solidity-based contracts. We believe that EOS EVM will be the most scalable EVM on the market, expected to be completed in the next two to three months.

Rhythm BlockBeats: Do you think it's interesting that EOS supports EVM?

Yves: Native EOS development will take some time to complete the outlines in the blueprints to make development easier and more streamlined. Meanwhile, we can leverage the vast base of Solidity developers and extensive open-source code and SDKs for them to quickly and efficiently deploy decentralized applications.

Building an EVM chain on EOS is akin to a chain within a chain, which will open countless collaboration opportunities for other large, mature projects in the Ethereum ecosystem (such as Graph and Rosetta).

Additionally, because Solidity-based contracts have a robust code library, new projects can quickly replicate and deploy to EOS EVM, allocating most of their funds for marketing and community building, rather than starting from scratch as they would on native EOSIO.

Later this year, we will also launch ENF Ventures, which will become ENF's venture capital arm. One of its first investments will be a complete suite of EVM products built around EOS EVM.

Conclusion

It can be seen that ENF is gradually becoming the new leader of the EOS community. This organization, established in August 2021, has begun to represent the community and confront Block.one with the support of EOS nodes, the community, and other stakeholders.

In the recent actions taken by the 17 nodes against the B1 account, ENF, as the representative of the EOS community, first negotiated with Block.one, and only after multiple rounds of negotiations failed did the freezing of the remaining EOS in the B1 account occur.

ENF also stated during a live broadcast that EOS would support EVM in the coming months. At that time, there was considerable feedback from the community. Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, at least EOS is beginning to see new changes. This is also one of the most efficient ways to scale the ecosystem, as Ethereum's ecological status cannot be shaken, and the addition of EVM can attract many developers and users. At the same time, this indicates that ENF has begun to take the lead in the community, hoping to help EOS return to the mainstream.

While addressing the "trouble" of Block.one, ENF's community reputation is also increasing day by day. But regardless of the final outcome, the EOS community, which has been silent for four years, should also begin a new cycle.