EOS Highlights and Favorites from Ethereal and Consensus 2017

Of course, the main "highlight" of Consensus 2017 was the unveiling of Dan Larimer's latest project EOS, which some have dubbed "Ethereum on Steroids". For those who missed it, @matt-a and @robrigo captured Dan's EOS presentation here: [Consensus Day 1] Dan Larimer's Introduction to EOS talk.

Also, @trogdor assembled practically a complete transcript + images of Dan's EOS presentation, so definitely check it out if you want to get into the grittier details.

Link: Introduction to EOS: the Epic (blockchain) Operating System

To sum it up, it sounds like EOS will be based on a similar model as STEEMIT, except that it's goal is to be able to provide a "centralized app experience" within a "distributed app framework". And if one describes Ethereum as a "decentralized computer", EOS can perhaps be best described as a "decentralized operating system" with "built-in cryptoeconomic incentives" and "its own version of a frictionless Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System", as described by @kevinwong in his excellent article: EOS: A Blockchain Operating System.

While block times will still be similar to bitshares and steemit at 3 seconds each, apps will be able to ingest and process message queues with latencies of down to 10ms. For the programmers out there, think of a distributed version of LMAX / Chronicle Queue running within the context of a smart contract on a blockchain, where apps can also maintain their own side-chains. It will also offer much of the "glue" framework generally required to make it all work smoothly, including governance along with a "constitution". At the beginning, smart contracts will be programmed in WREN (with many other languages expected down the road), which is a small, fast, class-based concurrent scripting language intended for embedding in applications. It has no dependencies, a small standard library, and an easy-to-use C API. It compiles cleanly as C99, C++98 or anything later.

all [distributed / decentralized] app developers have to solve many of the same problems: account systems, recovery processes, multi-sig, manage challenges, and what they're missing is the operating system, which could provide all the common features that every application depends upon, allowing applications to focus on what makes them different. For example, there is a huge commonality between Bitshares and Steem in terms of functions, and relatively a very small difference in terms of application business logic. EOS aims to provide this operating system to provide all the core functions to app developers and allow them to focus on just the business logic that makes their apps unique.

From my understanding, the model will be that those who hold the EOS token, can choose to direct their tokens (think STEEM POWER) towards apps developed on the platform, perhaps as a sort of ICO where they stand to gain a share of the distributed app's profits in return for offering infrastructure to run the app. If I don't have this all quite correct so far, I expect @dantheman (who unfortunately I missed the chance to meet at the EOS VIP Party), will correct me in relatively short order.

And here's a nice little blurb explaining the history of STEEMIT:

In 2016 Steem was launched which had new conceptual issues. Social media users don't want to have to pay for every vote, they need account recovery options, etc... Steem also took the block rewards which are wasted in mining and redistributes them to people who are posting on the blockchain, enabling thousands of people to become active participants through massive decentralization allocation of funds. Steem went from concept in January to working blockchain in March to working website in July. At this point, Steem and Bitshares have more real world transactions occurring every day than the rest of the major blockchains combined. Steem also has a higher female-to-male ratio of users than any other blockchain. However, both Steem and Bitshares are application-specific blockchains. If you want to run multiple apps on the same blockchain, there are significant scalability issues that need to be solved.

Next, I'd like to give a big shout-out to Omar, or @crypt0 on steemit. Having done a fair share of video recording (not to mention live recording) with our YouTube channel vlogolution, I'm more than familiar with how difficult it is to live stream an event such as this, let alone as a one-man show! He captured most of the Ethereal and Consensus 2017 events, which you can catch on his timeline https://steemit.com/@crypt0 - I was literally able to catch most of these conferences, along with a few interesting interviews, while watching markets and taking care of a bunch of other stuff along the way from the comfort of my easy chair!

I've assembled a few of my favorite presentations and interviews that I feel are very much worth watching. But I recommend you go through his timeline and just watch what resonates with you. Best part is that you don't need to sit through them all. Just fast forward or move onto the next one if you get bored. Hard to do that if you were there in person! lol

Consensus

• Consensus 2017 LIVE (Day 2) - Alt Coin Discussion Panel: Monero, Ripple, Augur, Cosmos)

• Consensus 2017 LIVE (Day 2) - Cryptocurrency Investors: New Asset Class?

• EPIC WATCH - Conscientious Consumption Starts With The Supply Chain (Ethereal Summit 2017 Panel)
  ex-enforcement guy strips down to make the point that 90%+ of the clothes we wear is made through slave labour.

• Ethereum Co-Founder Interview: Charles Hoskinson (IOHK CEO / Ethereum Classic Leader) - BIG Things Are Coming For ETC P. 1

• The Market Sniper - Francis Hunt (Interview At Consensus 2017)
  Good trader interview, also talks about staying away from shorting (especially for those that don't "get the game"), and stay far away from the leverage. Ironically enough, I had posted this tweet just before the final bitcoin blowoff (for this round, at least) yesterday:

BTCUSD now over 2750 -this is what a yuge short squeeze looks like, newbies shorting tops, get steamrolled, cover into highs, rinse&repeat 😵
https://twitter.com/alexpmorris/status/867763365279670272

That's because moves like this are not generally fueled by new buyers, but by those who are FORCED to buy back in at ever spiraling nose-bleeding new highs just to stop the pool of red in their accounts (if they're not wiped out altogether). This could be from either outright shorts thinking bitcoin (or xxx-coin) can't possibly go higher, or even from those who borrowed and sold bitcoin to use as margin for other positions, owing additional interest on top of that to boot.

Ethereal

• Early Adopter: How I Became A Blockchain Investor (Billionaire Mike Novogratz)
  This may be my favorite, because much of what he says could have summed up what I was saying to those I met at the VIP Party and also on steemit! All you aspiring "crypto traders", watch this one! And again, the books he mentions, can't recommend them enough. As I wrote in another post...

  • I must have read "Reminiscences Of A Stock Operator" a dozen times over the years. I'm probably due for another "visit", since almost every time I read it, I find something new that resonates as experience accumulates over the years. For those who are relatively new at trading, if you haven't yet read it, perhaps you'll find it insightful for yourselves as well.

  • Here are PDF copies I found online that you can check out for FREE:
    https://archive.org/details/JesseLivermoreReminiscencesOfAStockOperator

  • ... and "Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions" by Charles Mackay (1852):
    http://www.iapsop.com/ssoc/1852__mackay___extraordinary_popular_delusions_national_illustrated_library.pdf
    http://www.cmi-gold-silver.com/pdf/mackaych2451824518-8.pdf

• OmegaOne: Shaping The Digital Capital Markets (Solving The Liquidity Problem - Ethereal Summit 2017)

• When Crypto Goes Global: Bitcoin And Developing Economies (Elizabeth Rossiello CEO of BitPesa)

EOS VIP Party

Finally, I was hoping to be able to include some of the photos from the EOS VIP Party, but I haven't gotten the link yet. When I do, I'll look to post some of them. Regardless, I managed to meet up with a bunch of very interesting and cool fellow steemians. Definitely be sure to check out their profiles. I know I missed some of you (or apparently didn't quite get your STEEM IDs right), so please give me a SHOUT OUT if you see this post:

@matt-a and @robrigo and @wakeupjohnny - All a very cool bunch of guys and had a great time hanging out with them a good part of the evening. Sorry lost track of you all at the end. And Rob, your jacket's still awesome, and Jon, once again, don't forget to check out interactivebrokers.com!

@officialfuzzy - great hanging out with you too, just an all around cool person, also hosts the Beyond Bitcoin Community PodCast.

@crypt0 - great meeting you too Omar, and thanks again for your great work covering the conferences. I know it ain't easy!

@fox and @jamesc - pleasure meeting you guys and chatting as well!

I met quite a few more of you, but I'm just blanking right now on your names and IDs (though I'll rarely forget a face). So again, please give me a SHOUT OUT if you find your way to this post!

Look forward to meeting up with you all again at some point in the near future!

And thanks again to Abby for securing me a spot at the party. I must have been one of the only people drinking mostly water all night at an open bar party (for some reason I was just really really thirsty and for that, alcohol just doesn't quite cut it), but I must say, those sliders were pretty darn delicious, that grapefruit beer was pretty good too, and overall a lovely evening meeting a very interesting and diverse group of people!

... and FINALLY!

Don't forget to get on twitter and VOTE for BTCC exchange to offer STEEM trading (the more exchanges that trade STEEM, the greater the liquidity, the better it is for the whole STEEMIT ecosystem)! Only 10 hours to go and it's been a neck-to-neck race between STEEM and ETC, with ETC now back in the lead 42% versus 39% over 118,000 votes:
https://twitter.com/alexpmorris/status/868131021341982721