Block.one Plans to Start Voting on EOS, the Blockchain It Birthed

Block.one plans to start actively voting for EOS block producers sometime next month.

The Cayman Island-based developer house announced Wednesday that, having watched EOS develop over the past two years, it now thinks the time is right for it to come off the sidelines and begin actively contributing to the network.

"Hundreds of BPs [block producers] and SBPs [standby block producers] have contributed a tremendous amount of code, knowledge, and leadership. Initially, in the coming weeks, we plan to use our voting stake to begin highlighting and voting for many of these candidates, potentially even in rotation, to showcase these organizations' achievements, values, and network contributions," the post said, referring to block producers and standby block producers.

See also: Block.one Absorbs Team Behind Now-Defunct Block Producer EOS New York

Block.one has been looking to participate since a month after the network launched in June 2018. In a July post that year, the company said it would vote for block producers, though this did not happen.

Block.One announced its intention to begin participating in governance in November. At the time, the company said it wanted to play a "proportional role" in suggesting new proposals as well as supporting projects and teams contributing to the overall health of the network.

Following the $4 billion initial coin offering (ICO), Block.one allocated itself 10 percent of the total EOS (EOS) token supply. But its share has slowly declined as new EOS tokens have entered the ecosystem from BPs validating new blocks. Eighteen months after the ICO, in November 2019, the company's share was down to 9.5 percent.

As of press time, Block.one's control of approximately 9.5 percent of eos coins would make it potentially a major single voter for any block producer (the 21 validators with the largest portion of tokens supporting them), depending on how much of its holdings the company decides to stake and vote. 

See also: Block.One Will Not Launch Its Social Network on EOS

Per Wednesday's release, Block.one said it would begin playing an active role first by vocally supporting BPs that have already added code, and it will support block producers who "adhere to the standards we wish to see network wide," the company said.

"Block.one believes staking systems will be a critical component of the future tokenized economy, and to ensure maximum network security and constructive participation, Block.one will begin staking and voting its EOS token position," the company added.

Brady Dale contributed reporting.

Edit (13:30 UTC, April 13, 2020): A previous version of this story overstated the impact that Block.One's supply of tokens could potentially have on EOS. We've changed one line to more accurately reflect the situation.