Huobi Pro has announced that it is to campaign to become a block producer on the EOS blockchain, as the Cayman Islands-headquartered platform surges in value.

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Huobi Pro, originally from China, is the third biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world at the moment with daily trading volumes of almost $2 billion, according to coinmarketcap.com.

EOS is a blockchain which like Ethereum allows users to run smart contracts. Unlike Ethereum however it uses a consensus model called delegated proof of stake.

The proof of stake model is when mining power in the blockchain is defined by the number of tokens held by a user, or node. The advantages of this are that it prevents monopoly and provides incentive. The disadvantage is that it leads to centralisation.

EOS runs on a system called delegated proof of stake, which is similar to PoS but as the name implies delegates decision making and mining power to selected nodes. Blocks are produced by these representatives according to a “continuous approval voting system”, which mandates that new producers go up for election every 21 blocks. These block producers are called supernodes.

Under this system those that want to be supernodes must announce themselves; Huobi announced its candidacy through Twitter. It even mentions campaign speeches in its post:

This follows a similar announcement from another major cryptocurrency exchange, Bitfinex, yesterday. The Zurich-based exchange has even set up a dedicated page with campaign promises including one section called ‘community benefit outline’. Other entities running for election include ViaBTC, AntPool, and SuperONE.

EOS is currently number five in the cryptocurrency league with a market capitalisation of approximately $11 billion. Yesterday social trading brokerage eToro announced the addition of EOS to its trading options.