Is EOS Better than Centralized Networks such as Stellar and HyperLedger?

 The market as we know it is yet to shake itself loose from the bear hold and there are several cryptocurrencies out there standing on somewhat shaky ground. In spite of this, it’s interesting to note that there are a couple of coins or tokens that are continuously defying the odds as they maintain an upward trend and thrive with huge price jumps. While it’s not possible to tie down the overall picture to some sort of mini-bull run, we certainly cannot ignore this upward trend. Two of coins that have been going against the tide are the EOS (EOS) and Stellar (XLM).

Where Does EOS Stand?

EOS, which earned the nickname “Ethereum on Steroids”, is currently in 5th place in the market. Backed by its smart contract capabilities, dApps as well as enhanced scalability, EOS is one project that’s definitely stamping its authority and sending shockwaves across the Blockchain community. Although EOS is still in Alpha stage, it’s a leading token which boasts interesting data results.

As far as daily trading volumes go EOS has witnessed an 860% surge in interest with a market cap worth $4.4 billion. The only other cryptocurrency to experience such volumes is Bitcoin. Looking at the speed and level with which EOS is growing; it’s very likely that it’s gunning for the 4th place on the crypto market.

It’s speculated that the astonishing bullish run owes its momentum to a rumored airdrop which was set to occur sometime ago. The Asian markets have tremendously supported this token. Upbit and Bithumb in particular account for close to 45% of its volume. Furthermore, EOS is listed on 116 exchanges worldwide, which greatly enhances its visibility and liquidity.

To top it off, there was a claim that suggested that every Ethereum wallet with an existing minimum balance of 100 EOS would automatically receive an equivalent share of eosDAC. Although these claims weren’t officially communicated; they created a FOMO atmosphere as more and more investors rushed to purchase the token before the snapshot.

Stellar (XLM) Outlook

With a market capping of 4 billion, XLM currently holds 6th place. During Asian hours, XLM traded at $0.214 against the dollar, a far cry from its peak of $0.91. As we are writing this, the XLM is currently the second least traded coin in the list of the top 10 traded coins, with just $43million. Compared to the data on EOS, XLM has experienced a slightly reduced percentage upsurge. XLM rose 7.21% against the dollar over a 24 hour period while the cumulative increase over the seven day period was +7.13%.

XLM as a project is one that has been seen as having the ability to immensely influence the financial industry.

While the financial market may not necessarily be its only target market, many people have for a while now touted XLM’s ability to greatly influence this sector. Some of the key features of the XLM include its focus on facilitating a cross-border network which will provide faster and cheaper payments as well as the ability to host tokenized assets and coin offerings. Its greatest appeal, however, is the continued belief that XLM will extort momentum from Ripple and become the preferred cryptocurrency for Central Banks all over the world.

In as much as Stellar is an excellent product with great features and a dedicated team focused on delivery, its greatest setback is liquidity. XLM is listed in major trading sites such as Bittrex and Binance. However, the low volumes traded can only mean one thing – the coin lacks visibility. Compared to EOS which is listed on 116 exchanges, Stellar shows up on 79 exchanges only. It’s worth noting that the major coins have excelled in providing wider markets for investors through by getting listed in more than 350 exchanges.

Several predictions place XLM at a likely $1 high before the end of 2018 pointing to the numerous partnerships which may help increase interest resulting in higher value. The team at Stellar has interests in asset management, money remittance, financial consulting as well as Blockchain technology, all of which has led to deals with global giants such as Deloitte, IBM and many others.

Pros and Cons of Stellar Lumens (XLM)

A relatively well-known cryptocurrency, Stellar Lumens, commonly referred to as “Stellar’ is a project whose primary focus is payment processing. When comparing Stellar to other similar cryptocurrency projects such as Ripple, it’s easy to note that the latter provides most of the financial services that Stellar is aiming for. This is no wonder since the Stellar project is in a way of speaking a fork of the far more popular Ripple cryptocurrency. The Stellar project is focused on bridging the gap between banks (and other centralized financial institutions) and cryptocurrency. Major milestones have already been attained in this regard and it’s expected that we will have Stellar Lumens ATMs in the very near future. Furthermore, IBM is already using Stellar Lumens technology, and this is a major achievement for both the Stellar project and the cryptocurrency industry.

The Stellar project has pros and cons which we will compare to “competitors” in the cryptocurrency industry generally.

Pros

• A long-term investor may find investing in Stellar very attractive. In the event that banks replace their conventional means of transferring currency internationally, with Stellar’s household technology, we can expect the value and price of XLM to skyrocket tremendously.
• Compared to the Ripple project, the Stellar Blockchain ledger is available for any person to theoretically validate transactions. There are simply no restrictions. The Ripple ledger can only be validated by an elite group of validators. Naturally, the decentralization feature of the Ripple Blockchain remains minimized and has effectively fortified the power structures of big banks, which non-profits like Stellar and several other cryptocurrencies are trying to overcome.
• More importantly is the endorsement that Stellar has received through the deal with IBM. IBM is an international market leader and this deal is a great boost for Stellar.

Cons

• Since Stellar is considered a fork of Ripple by many, it has created a lot of controversy amongst cryptocurrency users as to which coin should be deemed legitimate and which one should be deemed fork. As far as popularity goes, Ripple is way ahead of Stellar. This is something that can, in part, be attributed to the considerable coverage by mainstream media over the past year.
• The Stellar project is a decentralized currency which appeals to the true cryptocurrency community while Ripple is more of a centralized currency. Unfortunately, the clients that these two cryptocurrencies target and cater to i.e. financial institutions like banks prefer the stability afforded by centralized systems like Ripple.
• Finally, Ripple has a big team that’s spread over several locations while the Stellar team is much smaller. The implications of the size of the team are not necessarily serious but they do mean that the Ripple team has the capacity to work at a much faster rate than the Stellar team. In the cryptocurrency world, first (and fast) movers hold significant advantages and it’s crucial for Stellar to increase its team and operations if they want to see much more success and industry dominance.

Linking Public Solutions and Enterprise

Stellar Lumens was a derivative of an initial fork of Ripple. Stellar and Ripple belong to the same Blockchain, however, Ripple is, in essence, a software company selling banking software to banks and other financial institutions. Stellar, on the other hand, is not looking to create solutions for financial institutions or the banking industry. Rather their focus is on being an open system offering Blockchain-based solutions. Stellar offers superior back-end controls which cannot be found on decentralized Blockchain examples of which include freezing accounts and KYTMLs APIs.

Shidan Gouran, President and CEO of Global Blockchain, says that Ripple’s ledger is currently not being used for much and he is sure that Ripple will someday convince banks to adopt its software and currency, XPR. He further states that Ripple is where it is today because it has leveraged on the marketing hype of Blockchain technology.

As far as the Stellar project goes, Gouran reckons that will be a key player in linking the public world with enterprises.

Blockchain Models

There are two kinds of models namely:

• Stellar/Ripple Model: Here you have centralized custodians who introduce access onto an order book which is decentralized.
• Centralized Order Book: Here you have decentralized custodians with a centralized order book. Basically, the exchange bears no control over your actions and the transactions are so random that it’s not possible to distinguish the order of transactions making it impossible for anyone to front run the order book.

According to Gouran, there are many who would consider the use of atomic swaps and lightning network science fiction in this day but this is possibly more viable in the next 18 months.

Is HyperLedger the Enterprise Solution?

Hyperledger, an open-source Linux-based Blockchain, will address the requirements of the enterprise space. Hyperledger has received considerable support from IBM and this has boosted confidence among companies that want to adopt the Blockchain technology. Shidan Gouran thinks that the Hyperledger solution is much better than R3 and this is largely attributed to the distributed-space-cross-other–companies feature of the Hyperledger. R3 is more or less a messaging platform and doesn’t have much more to offer beyond this.

Gouran compares R3 to a conventional database with the only difference being that it has process verification and receipt functionality. The Hyperledger will be used in a solution that will be announced very soon. According to Gouran, partnerships will be developed through a trading platform with several state actors in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

There are benefits of using enterprise-based Blockchain and over and above the benefits Gouran emphasizes the need for a public ledger which will allow consortiums to interact with one another.

Long-Term Prospects

EOS overcame several issues and launched its Mainnet for the long-term. The intention of EOS before the launch of Mainnet was to become a genuine Blockchain product and one that was decentralized. However, the project came under sharp criticism regarding authenticity. EOS performed very well but some analysts in the crypto space doubt its technology as far as safety and reliability go. EOS primary focus is to ease the process of transacting cryptos and make it cheaper as well.

The Stellar project has been viewed as having the potential to greatly influence the financial sector. While the focal point for Stellar has been to create a network for quicker and cheaper cross-border payments, it also has the ability to hold coin offerings and tokenized assets. There are voices in the crypto space that believe that Stellar will eventually surpass Ripple and become the preferred crypto for Central Banks around the world. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, Stellar needs to increase visibility and should perhaps consider listing on more exchanges in order to increase its trade volume.

Conclusion

As we have seen, both Stellar (XLM) and EOS aren’t just another set of cryptocurrencies; rather they are fully-fledged Blockchain projects with outstanding long-term investments. They are not similar but they are complimentary.

One focuses on providing a full Blockchain operating system which can be used to unravel any difficulty that can be solved using the Blockchain technology. The other aims to get a specific problem right and better than everybody else. There’s no reason why both cryptocurrencies cannot get their way.

One doesn’t have to worry about choosing between the two since they are both great. However, if you’re keen on the more subtle points in the crypto space then it’s best to consider the involvement of IBM with Stellar. IBM will soon be releasing their first currency via Stellar’s technology with the aim of creating a carbon credit market all over the world. EOS’s most important application at the moment is email service. It’s important to do your homework so do your research and make an informed decision.