Block.One Drops $1B On EOS VC

Brendan Blumer, the founder and chief executive officer of Block, the startup behind the world-recognized, multi-billion dollar EOS.io blockchain project, recently sat down with Bloomberg to discuss a variety of facets in the current crypto industry.

Opening the interview, which stretched out to five minutes, the Bloomberg host questioned Blumer about Block.one’s plans for the $4 billion it raised in the now-infamous months-long initial coin offering (ICO). Seeming prepared to answer such a question, the startup executive first explained that a majority of crypto assets in the past were issued through PoW and the use of large amounts of electricity, so seeing that EOS token generation is done differently, Blumer said that the “thesis” is to divert the funds raised back to the development of the ecosystem.

Using an example, the CEO pointed out that Block.one, along with partners, had just announced a $1 billion investment into EOS venture capital, which will see funds go into the hands of developers and the community to bolster the EOS.io ecosystem. Blumer elaborated, stating:

So we’ve shared the first billion dollars of capital with the EOS VC… The primary bulk of [the funds] are really designed to be used as an investment into developers building on the EOS.io application itself. The first commitment of a billion is what we made public, however, we haven’t limited our involvement to that first capital injection because there is no need to overfund those projects in their early years.

The industry leader also touched on Block.one’s investors, confirming that Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel and Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu have invested into the Cayman Islands-based startup through a strategic investment round. Alluding to why Block.one would take on these notable investors, Blumer noted that the EOS platform will disrupt centralized authorities and entities, which will evidently become a big theme in humanity’s near future.

As revealed by CoinDesk, four of the startup’s earliest employees recently left Block.one to start StrongBlock, a new blockchain project, which details have been kept under lock and key. The host of the interview went on to question Blumer on what he thought about this shift.

Assuring viewers that EOS.io will still operate as planned, Blumer revealed that no members of Block.one’s core team had left and that the firm will still be able to accomplish its plans in full.

Moreover, it was noted that the startup had actually encouraged employees to continue their involvement in the cryptosphere, surprisingly enough. The Block.one founder added — “We see this as a strong positive sign because although they are no longer with the organization, they’re continuing to foster the ecosystem.”

Looking Forward: Bitmain IPO And Crypto Market

As you are likely aware of, just last week, Bitmain revealed its controversial, yet needed IPO prospectus, which moves the China-based firm one step closer to being able to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Bloomberg host went on to question Blumer about his thoughts on Bitmain, which is one of Block.one’s leading partners, and its planned IPO.

The EOS proponent pointed out that Bitmain’s plan to go live in Hong Kong goes to show that the crypto scene is gaining “gravity” there, which has only been aided by the free capital market — which is in line with blockchain values — in the Chinese special administrative region.

Closing off his time on Bloomberg, Blumer drew attention to the bearish state of the market, outlining what he expects will catalyze the next bull run. Taking a longer-term outlook on this nascent industry, he stated: