It is certainly an exciting time for EOS as we are now less than a month away from the launch of the Genesis Block. As we get closer to launch, more block producers are coming forth to announce their candidacy in an effort to vie for the 21 spots. Recently, giants such as Bitfinex, Antpool, and Huobi have entered the candidacy and with this comes tremendous marketing attention to EOS.

The Huobi’s announcement for Block Producer candidacy attracted much fanfare with 2,000 concurrent live viewers and 25,000+ chats through its Youtube stream.

The Huobi Candidacy Announcement

Generally, we’re seeing block producer candidates falling into two categories; either operators of exchanges and mining pools such as Antpool, or independently operated Block Producers. Exchanges and mining pools have some luxury in utilizing existing communities and social channels. For this reason, we’d like to shine a spotlight on independent candidates along with attention on their core values.

The topic of transparency disclosures, independence, and the movement against vote buying all became a major topic through EOS New York’s early work. In January they identified vote buying efforts from a predominant Chinese candidate which later retracted their plans after seeing the communities response. Ensuring all BP participants adhere to the rules set forth in the constitution will be a community effort. Below, we’ve highlighted four BPs that have released their core values as candidates. We’re looking forward for more to come.

EOS Dublin

This past week we saw a block producer candidate from Ireland announce their candidacy, EOS Dublin. EOS Dublin makes a strong case for their specific geographical location along with their aim of financial independence. To provide assurance around their independence, EOS Dublin will be making their annual audited accounts public for the community to review.

“EOS Dublin is wholly owned and funded by the founding team. We commit to sustain this model and never take any outside investment which will risk us not being in control of our business.”

EOS Dublin also stated that their geographical location makes them an ideal BP Candidate:

“We are really leveraging Ireland as a key location for technology businesses. It is no coincidence that all the major tech companies have their EU headquarters in Ireland. We are partnering with the leading independent Irish data center for our infrastructure. We are also exploring options to open up an investor pool for small investors interested in having a stake in our business.” — Sharif Bouktila, CEO of EOS Dublin

Another UK based candidate, EOS 42, is establishing a large presence in London through community events. The May 1st event reached an astounding 400+ attendees.

EOS42 Meetup

Learn More: EOS Dublin, EOS 42

EOS TRIBE

EOS Tribe and its founder Eugene Luzgin are leading the charge in creating an EOS wallet focused around user friendly encryption called SES Network Wallet. SES looks to be one of the earliest approaches to a PGP encrypted Web wallet with custodian mechanics to ensure a backup safety net encase the user loses their keys.

EOS Tribe is also deeply involved in a dApp resource delegation service called Chintai. This will allow EOS token holders to generate income through token leasing, while in turn providing critical resources needed by dApp developers. Various BPs are working together to ensure the adoption of Chintai across the main net.

As we’ve seen with others such as EOS New York and Dublin, the Tribe is also stating in their core values that they “will not collude with other block producers or run more than one BP node within any chain.”

Tribe has a clear focus around building utility for the EOS ecosystem. We’re excited to see whats to come for EOS Tribe.

Learn More: EOS Tribe

EOS Blocksmith

EOS Blocksmith, another self funded block producer candidate came out with a blog post recently comparing their core values and technical specs to that of Bitfinex. With a strong argument on how their focus on independence in all facets of block production is the best approach for creating a healthy ecosystem for the long term.

“Bitfinex and other similar groups have many interests outside of running an EOS node. At BlockSmith we have a singular purpose in our organization. We do two things; make blocks and engage the community socially. In doing only that, you can count on us to be objective, impartial, and operate with the utmost integrity because everyone can clearly see the alignment of our incentives.

BlockSmith is taking no outside investment. We are 100% self-funded and will remain that way. We are also giving no investment or donation to any other actor in EOS. This financial independence combined with our monthly full financial disclosures will provide anyone a clear view of what we’re up to.” — Craig Murray, EOS Blocksmith

Learn More: EOS Blocksmith

Conclusion

Ultimately, it will be up to the EOS token holders to vote on what they want out of their 21 block producers. We expect to see many more debates around this topic before voting begins. While independent block producer candidates may not have as many revenue streams as the larger candidates, they are actively making the case that focus is crucial to sustain a healthy EOS Blockchain.