EOS is inspired by some of the design concepts of Bitcoin, the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency, but attempts to improve upon it. A decentralized cryptocurrency keeps track of all transactions by all addresses on a peer-to-peer shared record. One of EOS's innovations is extremely low transaction fees and extremely fast transaction times, through a system of proof-of-stake. EOS is traded on bitni.com.
Blockchain based cryptocurrencies like EOS work by grouping transactions together in data blocks, then linking the blocks cryptographically. The chain of blocks is stored across a decentralized network of nodes, which on EOS are run by the stakeholders, and distributed as peer-to-peer shared files. Quantities of EOS are stored at addresses, cryptographic sequences paired with a private key used to spend the amount at the address. The user's wallet keeps track of all their EOS addresses and adds up the balance.
EOS was designed by Sanjiv Mehra in attempt to improve cryptocurrencies technically, reducing transaction times from 10 minutes to 500 milliseconds, by replacing computationally expensive proof-of-work with a proof-of-stake voting by the coin holders. EOS is maintained by Block.one, and the software is free and open source, so anyone can build on it.
EOS is used for anything money is used for - buying, selling, donations. But EOS can also be used for even more things than fiat currency: A means of accepting donations or facilitating commerce that cannot be shut down by governments or the banking system. Also storing up wealth that cannot be confiscated.
EOS has more value than Fiat Currency because it's more useful: It's anonymous, decentralized, irreversible, cannot be devalued, cannot be confiscated, can be sent over the internet to anywhere in the world in minutes. Things that are very useful and scarce tend to be valuable. One reason EOS has value because it fulfills all of the requirements of money: Store of Value, Medium of Exchange, Unit of Account.
There is currently no maximum supply on the number of EOS coins. The inflation rate of new coins is determined by the proof-of-stake voters, which are the holders of EOS coins. The inflation rate was initially 5%, but was changed to only 1% by the proof-of-stake voters. The inflation rate helps pay for the cost of transactions, which cost less than many other cryptocurrencies.
An EOS transaction is a transfer of value from one address to another. Unlike Bitcoin, which secures transactions by a proof-of-work, EOS has a delegated proof-of-stake - nodes which vote to confirm transactions. A transaction is created by a user on their EOS client software, which broadcasts it out to all the other nodes, eventually becoming part of the EOS Blockchain.
The EOS Blockchain is a public record of all transactions by all addresses. However, an address is just a number - it doesn't reveal anything about the identity of the one using it, like a street address can. As long as this number is never linked to an identity, the EOS user is safe. There is no way to "trace" a EOS address to the person using it - unless they leave clues connecting their EOS address to their physical identity. bitni.com has maximum anonymity - we don't ask for personal details.
Traditional cryptocurrency mining is the computational process of adding new blocks to the blockchain. New transactions are grouped together in a block. In a proof-of-work system, new blocks must cryptographically connect to previous blocks with a hash function. EOS also has a blockchain, but with a critical difference - it is proof-of-stake rather than proof-of-work - the nodes simply vote to decide which transactions are valid. The supply of new EOS currently inflates at 1% per year, a rate determined by the stakeholders.
EOS was not designed to be taxed. If no one reports their EOS gains, there is no way an authoritarian regime can know who gained what. However, centralized exchanges with accounts and IDs do report their user's EOS balance to tax authorities. If you want privacy from authoritarian regimes, you need an accountless exchange that doesn't ask for your ID - bitni.com is the best exchange in this regard.
EOS ATMs allow a customer to buy EOS by inserting physical cash, like a vending machine, or send EOS to receive physical cash. (The former are called "1 way" ATMs and the latter are called "2 way".) If the EOS ATM is from a trusted manufacturer and operator, it should be safe to use. Different EOS ATMs have differing AML/KYC requirements.
EOS has scaled to handle millions of transactions per month. EOS is software, and it can evolve to scale - the code can be modified with better algorithms and the network then upgrades to the more advanced version. EOS attempts to improve on Bitcoin to solve scaling issues, by processing transactions every 500 milliseconds instead of 10 minutes.
Anyone who knows the private key can move the coins from an address. If the private key is not known, it's not possible to spend the coins at an address. EOS stored in the wallets of a centralized exchange can be stolen - it happens all the time. At a Non-custodial exchange like bitni.com, you are in charge of your wallet at all times.
If EOS network could be hacked, it would have probably already happened. The blockchain is decentralized across many independent nodes - the more nodes on the network, the higher the security. If any one node is compromised, it will not compromise the others. However, centralized EOS exchanges are hacked all the time! That's why you need a non-custodial exchange like bitni.com.
The data of all EOS transactions is stored in a public EOS Blockchain distributed as peer-to-peer shared files. Each node has a complete copy of all transactions ever made - the EOS Blockchain. So the transactions are stored in the cloud - not on a centralized server, but on many independent nodes. Each user's EOS balance is also kept track of in their wallet.
A EOS wallet stores all of the user's EOS addresses. The sum value of all of the addresses in a wallet is automatically added up - this is the total balance of a wallet. Centralized exchanges store the user's wallet, which is risky. Non-custodial exchanges like bitni.com do NOT store user's wallets, which is much safer.
Millions of people everywhere in the world use EOS for all the same things as any other money is used for - buying, selling, and donations - and the number of users is growing rapidly. Anyone needing to transfer wealth internationally, especially outside the grasp of authoritarian regimes, for ridiculously low cost, will find EOS useful if they are not already using it. EOS is also used as an investment and a hedge against inflation.
Many merchants, especially online, accept cryptocurrencies as payment. Charities like Wikipedia accept donations in crypto. Web Hosts and Domain registrars often accept crypto. Large brick and mortar stores are starting to accept crypto payment. Some local restaurants are also coming on board. bitni.com accepts EOS to convert to other currencies, of course.
The reason why a cryptocurrency is the future can be summed up in 3 words: Because it's better. EOS is a huge improvement over fiat currency. It is also an improvement over precious metals - they can't be wired over the internet. If central banks continue destroying the value of fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies will become even more important to the future of money.
If EOS were going to crash to zero, it would have probably done it already. There have been wild price swings - because it's new and there's a lot of speculation, like the internet when it first came out. But there are wild price swings with other commodities like oil. EOS's low after it's all-time high of several tens of dollars is still about a few dollars. For EOS to crash to $0, demand would need to be zero or supply would need to be infinite - a highly unlikely scenerio.
The Original Bitcoin has gone from pennies to thousands and thousands of dollars in less than a decade, utterly blown away the stock market, even gold and other precious metals, and far outperformed pretty much any other investment. While EOS has not reached Bitcoin's high, it has performed relatively well, going from a few dollars to several tens of dollars at it's high - a pretty good investment.
Exchanges are where EOS is bought and sold, however there are several types: Centralized Exchanges store the user's coins like a bank and require ID. Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) facilitate peer-to-peer buying and selling between users - and these can be done locally in-person or online. Non-Custodial exchanges like bitni.com are a quick and easy way of swapping cryptocurrencies without signing up.
Many Centralized exchanges have rigorous requirements for identification, such as uploading a scan of passport or other government documents. Decentralized exchanges usually have less stringent requirements for identification, especially if the transaction is in-person. Non-custodial exchange bitni.com does not require identification for crypto-to-crypto swaps. If you want EOS without SSN, you've come to the right place.
KYC stands for Know Your Customer. Many regimes have become increasingly authoritarian towards cryptocurrency and seek to crack down on anonymous trading, by requiring the customer to upload documents proving their identity. Many exchanges have caved in to the pressure and now have KYC policies. Centralized exchanges almost always have KYC, some Decentralized exchanges do as well. bitni.com does not require KYC for crypto-to-crypto swaps.
In many ways, EOS is a technical improvement to Bitcoin. It has much faster transaction times and lower transaction fees. It has a protocol that can be amended seamlessly. However, EOS doesn't have the massive publicity that Bitcoin has (not all of Bitcoin's publicity is good, but apparently there's no such thing as bad publicity). And that's why Bitcoin is priced much higher. Many more people know about Bitcoin than EOS. However, that can change, as EOS could become more widely known in the future. Bitcoin is also fully decentralized, whereas EOS is maintained by Block.one.
Most EOS trading is done by buying and selling coins directly by individual investors. However, there are cryptocurrency funds listed on stock markets. A Cryptocurrency Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) holds assets in single cryptocurrencies or a basket of them. It may be more convenient to buy into one basket fund instead of manually managing dozens of different cryptos and their respective wallets. In the case of EOS, it is probable some Cryptocurrency ETFs are holding it.
Hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands for a EOS coin may seem speculative, but EOS's high is already several tens of dollars. EOS started out at a dollar and rose in a parabolic curve to it's high twenty times higher than the starting price. $100 is only five times higher than the all time high. If the long term trend continues, EOS could reach new highs orders of magnitude greater.
A traditional proof-of-work cryptocurrency generates new blocks in time intervals, each new block connected to the previous. Each block holds a limited number of transactions, and a certain number of blocks must be connected for the transaction to be secure. EOS is different, using a blockchain maintained by proof-of-stake instead of a proof-of-work, where the validity is determined by stakeholders and not cryptographic proofs. Because of this, EOS's transaction time is almost instantaneous.
A traditional proof-of-work cryptocurrency can include a transaction on the latest block in the blockchain. However, in a totally decentralized system, a transaction is not irreversible until a certain number of blocks are added ahead of it on the blockchain, when the network has reached a consensus. EOS transactions are irreversible from the start, because voting of stakeholders determines validity. Thus, there is no "number of confirmations" to wait for - it is near instantaneous.
In cryptocurrencies where transactions must be paid for, the transaction fee is the cost of having transaction data included in blocks added to the blockchain permanent record, which fluctuates under market supply and demand. EOS is different, in that transaction costs are subsidized by inflation. EOS transactions are thus completely free and "feeless". To prevent spamming the network, transactions are limited in bandwidth to the number of tokens held.