2023 EOS Ecosystem Recap: An Epic Year of Growth, Technological Innovation & Network Adoption

Author

EOS Network Foundation

Date

Jan 9, 2024

EOS EVM Enables Ethereum Developers on EOS

Perhaps the biggest milestone of the past year was the deployment of EOS EVM on mainnet. After more than a year in development, EOS EVM v0.4.0 went live on April 14. This ushered in a new era for the ecosystem. It allowed developers from Ethereum based protocols to deploy their applications on EOS and take advantage of the unmatched speed and performance that EOS has to offer.

The launch was followed by an increase in both developer and user activity, with over 40 integrations deploying over the course of 2023. In keeping with an important core value of the ENF, the engineering team open sourced the EOS EVM codebase on April 27, for all Antelope ecosystems to take advantage of. This enabled projects like ESCC to come to fruition later in 2023. ESCC is an entire EVM built on EOS that’s dedicated to stable coin transactions.

Development didn’t slow down once the first release of EOS EVM was launched, with EOS EVM v0.5.0 going live on June 20, bringing a number of performance, compatibility and user experience improvements. On October 15, EOS EVM v0.6.0 was launched, enabling trustless bridge support for ERC-20 tokens other than EOS, starting with USDT. It also added the innovative Cross Virtual Machine (VM) Communication feature. Finally, the EOS EVM engineering team closed out the year by releasing EOS EVM v0.7.0 RC-1, which brings WebSockets, a critical tool for developing applications requiring real-time, bidirectional communication.

Over the second half of 2023, the trustless bridge that ties together the EOS Native & EOS EVM ecosystems also underwent several updates. This included a new front end and support for a number of community driven project tokens. All of this has been with the intent of improving the user experience of EOS EVM and making it the go-to ecosystem for Solidity developers around the world. These innovations paid off when the EOS EVM was stress tested during an Inscriptions event on December 11. Over the course of the day, the EOS EVM saw 17.65 Million transactions, with zero increase in gas fees and no on-chain congestion or impact to other dApps. Learn more about the EOS EVM here.

Leap Updates Continue to Innovate What’s Possible on EOS Native

Even with all the updates being released on EOS EVM, development for Antelope Leap, the underlying protocol for EOS Native, didn’t slow down. The year started off strong, with the launch of Antelope Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC). This brought cross communication and near-limitless scalability to EOS and other Antelope powered networks. In May, following activation from the WAX blockchain, all Antelope coalition chains could seamlessly interface with each other.

On April 25, Leap v4.0.0 went live on mainnet, improving performance with multi-threading features, bringing faster block propagation, better control around state/historical data and more. A number of release candidates were also released for Leap 5, which just went live on mainnet on January 4, 2024. This update brings a number of feature improvements for developers, API providers and node operators, including relaxed constraints, improved speed, increased efficiency and enhanced control.

In tandem with the Leap 5 development, major work has been underway for Leap 6. The primary work related to Instant Finality and Hot Stuff Consensus Mechanism upgrades was completed in the third quarter or 2023. Following this, the ENF engineering team has begun iteratively refining the algorithm and its implementation, rigorously testing the software and generating mathematical proofs for subsequent peer review. This release will likely be the biggest upgrade that EOS has ever seen and a critical milestone for the community. This massive consensus upgrade will be part of the Leap 6 release in 2024.

Another important milestone for EOS Native, were changes brought forward through a community proposal to stop RAM inflation. On December 17, the MSIG proposal was passed and the implications of this proposal began to be implemented.

The Genesis of EOS Labs: Onboarding the Next Wave of Web3 Innovators

In addition to advancements to the technical infrastructure of EOS, 2023 also saw a number of milestones in the human layer working to grow adoption of the network’s technology. The most notable of these was the launch of EOS Labs, an incubator aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of the EOS ecosystem within the intensely challenging Web3 landscape.

The idea was first proposed by longtime community leader Huaqiang Wen at the July 19 Block Producer meeting. In a strategic pivot towards optimizing resource allocation, the EOS Network Foundation (ENF) elected to redirect funding from several of its ongoing programs to this new initiative. As an initial commitment to this transition, the ENF is poised to channel a quarter of its resources, which equates to 0.5% of network inflation, towards EOS Labs.

EOS Labs plans to carry out a number of roles and responsibilities including research and incubation, cross-project collaboration and business development. The goal of this is to enhance the competitiveness and growth of the EOS ecosystem, while building out further decentralization of ecosystem funding and complimenting the work of the EOS Network Foundation and EOS Network Ventures.

In the first few months of EOS Labs operation a number of notable partnerships have already been announced and will be discussed later on in this article. Learn more about the role of EOS Labs in this in-depth update.

EOS Network Ventures Announces First Major Investments

EOS Network Ventures (ENV), was an ecosystem initiative conceptualized in 2022 as a way for the network to invest in projects that benefit the EOS ecosystem, while driving value generated from those investments back to the EOS network. In March of 2023, the potential impact of ENV became clear with a commitment of $20 Million for GameFi and EVM projects on EOS.

On October 30, the first of these investments was made by way of a $1.5M investment into Upland, as part of a $7 Million Series A extension. Upland is one of the industry’s leading GameFi dApps with over 20k Unique Active Wallets and over 180k monthly transactions.

ENV continued working to grow the opportunities for EOS to thrive with the announcement of an investment into Spirit Blockchain Capital. This news will play a major role in enhancing the collaboration between traditional finance and the blockchain sector, helping to accelerate real world asset (RWA) adoption on EOS, and driving positive change within the industry.

The year closed with one final strategic investment being made towards EZ Swap, with ENV investing $500k as part of a $1M raise. This investment enriches the entire EOS ecosystem with advanced gaming solutions and expanded cross-chain functionalities. Read more about the EZ Swap investment in this update.

Notoriety for EOS Grows Through a Number of Key Partnerships

Through the collaborative efforts of the ENF, ENV & EOS Labs, 2023 saw an influx in projects leveraging EOS technology and partnering with the EOS ecosystem in impactful ways. There were too many announcements of this type to cover in a single report but the following are some of the most notable partners to come to fruition in 2023.

On April 13, the ENF announced a strategic partnership with DWF Labs. Through this partnership, DWF is supporting the EOS Network with a $45m EOS token purchase agreement and $15m commitment to invest into EOS-based businesses and projects. That same month, ENF CEO & Founder, Yves La Rose, attended the Foresight 2023 Hong Kong Summit. While in the area, a partnership came to fruition with InvestHK’s Cyberport. Cyberport is a hub for digital technology creating a new economic driver for Hong Kong, which has since made resources available to EOS related initiatives.

In an effort to facilitate adoption of EOS from GameFi projects, the ENF announced a collaboration with the Wombat X Accelerator Program on May 4. Wombat X aims to support Web3 games with mentorship, user acquisition, infrastructure support and more. Also, in the realm of GameFi, PlayZap launched on EOS EVM and quickly became the most active dApp on EOS EVM, reaching a groundbreaking 125k Unique Active Wallets in the month of December.

As previously noted, the EOS EVM was a notable vector for network integrations over the past year and several key partnerships played an important role in increasing adoption for this area. Once such partnership was DappRadar’s integration of the EOS EVM in October. DappRadar is an industry leading dApp library and data analytics platform, making it easier for those deploying applications to reach a wider audience in the broader Web3 space. Another notable piece of news in this area was a partnership with BlocSec, bringing robust auditing services and increased trust to the EOS EVM ecosystem.

The ENF facilitated the process of EOS receiving regulatory approval by the Japan Virtual and Crypto Asset Exchange Association (JVCEA). Following this milestone, the ecosystem began to see a notable increase in adoption from Japan focused projects. This included a listing on BitTrade Japan, as well as a listing on Binance Japan, making EOS easily accessible to this market. In November, the ecosystem saw another big win for adoption in Japan, with the announcement that PassPay will be leveraging EOS for its digital payments platform. The most notable of PassPay’s initiatives will be the issuance of the stablecoin JPYW, the only stablecoin licensed for the Japanese Yen.

The year ended with exciting news of a partnership between EOS and CoinTR, Turkey’s leading cryptocurrency exchange. As part of the alliance, CoinTR will drive adoption of EOS in Turkey through a number of initiatives including a Web3 incubator, launchpad and EOS staking pool. All of these announcements represent only a fraction of the projects that adopted the EOS network in 2023. Head over to the EOS ecosystem page to discover more.

Improving Accessibility of EOS to Developers Around the World

Over the course of the past year, ENF Director of Developer Relations, Nathan James, worked tirelessly alongside other ecosystem contributors to improve the experience of building on EOS. An integral part of this strategy has been the EOS Documentation and EOS Learn Portal, which continue to have new written and video content added on a regular basis, educating builders on how they can leverage EOS to power their dApps.

The launch of EOS WebIDE in August is also worth noting and will serve as a valuable platform for onboarding new developers. This tool allows builders to write and deploy smart contracts on the Jungle testnet or EOS mainnet, with ease. Similarly, the release of WharfKit by Greymass will have massive implications for technically minded ecosystem contributors. Prior to the launch of WharfKit, it was extremely difficult to begin building on the native layer of EOS. This new toolkit changes everything by offering a collection of SDKs, tools and libraries for those navigating Antelope blockchains like EOS.

The EOS Developer Relations team also rolled out a number of events to encourage engagement such as webinars, hackathons, developer bounties and more. All of this has helped to overcome some of the major challenges that EOS has faced when it comes to a lack of developer onboarding resources. This led to a noticeable influx in developer activity throughout 2023. Join the EOS EVM developer community to connect with other builders in the ecosystem.

Increasing Awareness for EOS & Growing the Community

The EOS community saw tremendous growth over the past twelve months thanks to the efforts of the ENF Marketing & Communications Team, EOS Labs & countless community initiatives across the ecosystem. EOS community leaders attended over 20 events across 9 countries, helping to raise awareness for EOS from industry enthusiasts around the globe.

A steady stream of written content, video content and digital events helped increase EOS’ digital community, with the ENF’s Twitter growing by 18,300 followers (78%) throughout 2023. The ENF also launched a number of new community initiatives such as the Everything EOS Livestream and the ENF Office Hours, which will be happening on the newly launched EOS Global Telegram, every Wednesday at 8:00pm UTC.

These efforts, paired with the milestones discussed in this article resulted in an increase in PR coverage from notable media outlets such as Cointelegraph, CoinDesk and Altcoin Daily. ENF CEO & Founder, Yves La Rose was also included on Cointelegraph’s Top 100 Crypto Influencers in Crypto and Blockchain.

Just Wait to See What 2024 Has in Store!

The EOS ecosystem underwent a massive transformation over the past year thanks to the hard work of contributors and community members around the world. The network thrived from both a technology standpoint, as well as a recognition and adoption perspective, but there is still plenty of work to be done.

As the efforts and milestones achieved continue to build on top of each other and compound, there is lots to be excited about going into 2024. Be sure to follow EOS on Twitter to stay in the loop on everything and join the community on Telegram. Don’t forget to come out to our office hours discussion on Telegram, every Wednesday at 8:00pm UTC. We’d love to hear from you about how you would like to see EOS grow in the months ahead. Here’s to another epic year for EOS and Web3 as a whole!

EOS Network

The EOS Network is a 3rd generation blockchain platform powered by the EOS VM, a low-latency, highly performant, and extensible WebAssembly engine for deterministic execution of near feeless transactions; purpose-built for enabling optimal Web3 user and developer experiences. EOS is the flagship blockchain and financial center of the Antelope framework, serving as the driving force behind multi-chain collaboration and public goods funding for tools and infrastructure through the EOS Network Foundation (ENF).

EOS Network Foundation

The EOS Network Foundation (ENF) was forged through a vision for a prosperous and decentralized future. Through our key stakeholder engagement, community programs, ecosystem funding, and support of an open technology ecosystem, the ENF is transforming Web3. Founded in 2021, the ENF is the hub for EOS Network, a leading open source platform with a suite of stable frameworks, tools, and libraries for blockchain deployments. Together, we are bringing innovations that our community builds and are committed to a stronger future for all.
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