Ethereum has the reputation of being the foremost platform for DApps and smart contract deployment. Other blockchains have emerged that mirror Ethereum with DApps and smart contracts as their primary focus, unlike Bitcoin which is now being considered as a store of value. Although EOS is another prominent platform recognized in this niche, it seems Ethereum remains the preferred choice by developers.

A study by crypto information website Santiment revealed that the development activity on the Ethereum blockchain is 4.5 times greater than on EOS. This has been a consistent trend for the past 12 months according to the study. Looking at a graph of the dev activity for the two platforms, it is clear that Ethereum has been in the lead.

Devs are quitting EOS

The huge gap in developer activity between Ethereum and EOS brings to mind one question – what is responsible for the relatively low activity? The answer is developers are abandoning the platform, according to a report by CoinDesk. There appears to be so much centralization on the network with a few individuals controlling everything that key contributors are seeking greener pastures elsewhere.

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According to the report, EOS Tribe, the block producer that played a crucial role in the launch of EOS, has decided to withdraw its support as a block producer. The head of technology at EOS Tribe, Eugene Luzgin, in a Steemit post said,

“We at EOS Tribe have never participated in the game of vote trading and stayed true to our principles, and hence while we leave EOS as Block Producer, we are also free to speak truth and give warnings to the rest.”

Major fears unfolding

Although EOS is currently the seventh largest cryptocurrency by market cap, there have been fears about what the future may hold for the project. It seems those fears are unfolding as the platform is reportedly being abandoned by those who need to keep it going. The most cited cause of the fear is the centralized nature of the EOS network which Luzgin also mentions in his post.

“As EOS chain at least appears to get more centralized and plagued by issues – it becomes less attractive for new dApps and businesses to run on. Luckily there are alternatives to EOS on side chains like Telos, Worbli, BOS and Meet.One. Those side chains are running the same EOSIO codebase with many Governance issues resolved. Those side chains had an opportunity to observe problems on the EOS chain and change the rules and often make code changes to resolve those issues,” he wrote.

According to the post, developers would rather move to alternatives that are like EOS but better in several aspects. This explains why the developer activity has fallen dramatically against Ethereum. EOS is currently leading by far among the top 10 cryptocurrencies with a price gain of 3.23% in the last 24 hours, but if the developer exit continues, wouldn’t the price get affected eventually?