Larimer raised $4B to build EOS — now he’s gone
Altcoin EOS plummeted 30% on Sunday after lead brain and Block.one CTO Daniel Larimer announced he’s moving on after four years.
In a post on EOS-powered social media platform Voice, Larimer confirmed his resignation was effective as of the New Year, and thanked fellow founder and Block.one chief exec Brendan Bulmer for the ride.
Blockchain, kinda. EOS was built for hosting and deploying apps on a supposedly decentralized blockchain-powered network.
But due to a centralized consensus method, critics branded the blockchain a glorified cloud computing service prone to manipulation by cartels — claims Block.one struggled to shake since its rocky mainnet launch in 2018.
A new project? Larimer’s blog post doesn’t really give a lot away, but it does mention he intends to “continue on his mission to create free market, voluntary solutions for securing life, liberty, property, and justice for all.”
He also mentions he’s “leaning toward building more censorship resistant technologies” — and considering how easily EOS transactions are reversed, that might not be so hard.
Running out of chances. Over the years, Larimer has built a reputation for project-hopping, with previous projects Steem and ‘banking on a blockchain’ ploy Bitshares fading into obscurity on his exit.
But Larimer is rapidly losing credibility. After all, Block.one raised over $4 billion to build and maintain EOS — and even dodged an SEC lawsuit for failing to register its ICO as a securities sale.
Chasing First Amendment dollars. Larimer’s resignation comes just days after encouraging his followers to abandon Twitter in favor of Voice, citing the social media giant’s banning of Donald Trump, which he sees as an attack on free speech.
He also lodged disapproval at the delisting of so-called free speech app Parler by a number of prominent app stores.
So, it could be that Larimer is setting himself up for a career in competing with Twitter.
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Larimer has his work cut out if that’s the case. Voice critics point out the platform is also susceptible to censorship — and even exposes user privacy thanks to an overt reliance on trusted third parties for identity verification.