Review: Telos Project – Like EOS but better?

Telos Project
I’ve received many questions regarding the Telos blockchain, its TLOS Token and available wallets. But is TELOS really the better EOS or just a hot air balloon? What are the differences between TELOS and EOS? How are the free TLOS tokens being distributed to EOS holders? So here’s a brief review of the TELOS Project. Let’s have a look….

Is the TELOS network already live?

Yes, Telos Mainnet has launched on December 12th, 2018 at 17:46 UTC. The six Appointed Block Producers (ABPs) of the Telos Launch Group executed the previously published launch script for the Telos Mainnet, bringing it into existence. On Wednesday, December 19th, 2018 at 14:15:16 UTC, The Telos Blockchain Network passed block 1,000,040 and was activated under the control of block producers who have been elected by token holder voting. The first Telos block producer was caleosblocks. Since then Telos users may perform any action they choose on their accounts (e.g. unstaking TLOS tokens). Unstaking requires three days for a staked token to become liquid and transferable.

Who is eligible to claim free TLOS tokens?

The “EOS Genesis Snapshot” has been used as a basis for initial TLOS token distribution. It was taken on June 2, 2018 from data of the EOS token sale as recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. So if your address was in the EOS genesis snapshot, and held EOS tokens on June 2nd 2018, you’re eligible to participate in the distribution of free TLOS tokens at a ratio of 1:1. However, all genesis addresses were capped at 40,000 TLOS. This means that at launch no address owned more than 40,000 TLOS.
Please note: Accounts that have no transactions one year after the activation of the Telos network (at 63,000,000 blocks) are subject to deletion by the block producers at that time or in the future, provided no transactions have yet been made. Tokens in any deleted accounts will be deleted from the blockchain.

Which wallets can I use?

As of December 30th, 2018 you can store and retrieve your TLOS tokens with these wallets:                    You can download the latest versions of all available wallets at: https://telosfoundation.io/downloads

What is TELOS and how is it different from EOS?

Some wrongly believe that Telos is a fork of EOS. This isn’t correct. It’s rather a software or code fork of EOS.IO, meaning that the Telos Network is creating an entirely new blockchain using an improved and modified version of open-source EOS.IO software. EOS is actually also a code fork of EOS.IO. Not only because of their disastrous launch in mid 2018, the EOS Mainnet has received a fair amount of criticism from the Crypto scene. Especially for being too centralized. For example it could be argued whether 21 independent block producers really offer enough decentralization. However, a much bigger issue is the way these block producers are being selected and controlled. Although the EOS token holders can vote on who will be selected as active block producers, EOS has a large risk of centralized control: At EOS launch, 90% of tokens were held by just 1.6% of token holders. This same highly centralized voting pool will control the selection of EOS worker proposals, which account for a very significant annual inflation (5%). In comparison, Telos is capping all accounts at a maximum of 40,000 tokens at network launch. By doing so they’re changing the landscape and distribution of token ownership dramatically, thus achieving a better balance of the voting pool from the onset of the network.  

Who is behind TELOS?

Telos was launched by a group of contributors known collectively as the Telos Launch Group (TLG). The TLG consisted primarily of members of current and former EOS Block Producer candidates, as well as various other developers and blockchain enthusiasts. Many of the TLG were active participants in the EOS Mainnet launch, and have remained active in EOS Mainnet operations ever since. However, some members of the group have been quite vocal of their concerns regarding the current state and trajectory of the EOS Mainnet. Douglas Horn — formerly of EOS Americas, an early contributor to the TLG and drafter of the initial whitepaper — has gone on record saying that while he is a big believer in the potential of EOS and the EOS.IO software, he has come to think that the EOS Mainnet is on a bad path. And now, with the benefit of hindsight and experience, he and the rest of TLG see a unique opportunity for a “do-over” and chance to launch a version of the chain with several key structural and governance amendments.     Since the Mainnet is now live the TLG has been disbanded and its remaining functions, such as business development, developer and user support, and promotion of the chain, will be taken up by the Telos Foundation. On December 24th, 2018 the Telos Foundation Voting Token (TFVT) holders, consisting of over 100 original members from the Telos Launch Group, elected the following 12 people to the first Telos Foundation Board of Directors: Rob James, Joost Voordouw, Justin Giudici, Josep Rosich, Azad Halim, J.T. Buice, Jim Hewitt, Richard Bryan, Jesse Schulman, Marlon Williams, Mark Cohen and Beth Farnham

Are TLOS tokens being airdropped directly to EOS wallets?

TLOS are not *not* being airdropped to EOS wallets because Telos is a separate, and independent blockchain. As described above, TLOS tokens are available to all users who had accounts in the EOS genesis snapshot. Since the Telos Mainnet has been activated on December 19th, 2018 you can claim your TLOS tokens on the Telos blockchain by using your EOS genesis account names and respective EOS key-pairs.

How can I claim my TLOS tokens?

Your TLOS tokens can now be accessed on the Telos blockchain. In order to do so you must interact with the Telos blockchain network. One of the easiest ways to access the Telos blockchain network is to use one of the available wallets out there. Depending on how and where you stored your EOS tokens from the token sale, a different process might apply for claiming your TLOS tokens. In principle it’s a similar approach as when EOS switched from the Ethereum blockchain to their Mainnet. For your convenience you’ll find a detailed tutorial on how to claim your free TLOS tokens here (Link).
Please note: After exporting and importing your private keys, you should move all your claimed TLOS tokens to a new address to ensure that your wallet security hasn’t been compromised.

Where can I buy or trade TLOS?

As of December 30th, 2018 the TLOS tokens are listed on the following exchanges:   Chainrift    DexEos Exchange     Swap.Online Exchange    WhaleEx Exchange    Codex Exchange     Akdex Exchange   My personal pick would be Chainrift. But any other of the above will do as long as you’ll find the required liquidity to fill your order. The TLG and the Telos Foundation require exchanges to agree to give TLOS tokens to their customers and apply the cap of 40,000 TLOS. They cannot force any exchange to participate in the Telos Echo System. However, Telos has reserved 140,279,973 TLOS in an exchange reserve fund. So more exchanges are likely to follow in 2019.

What if my EOS genesis account keys are lost or compromised?

Bad news. Since the Telos Mainnet was launched on December 12th, 2018 it is no longer possible to use the recovery tool: https://telosfoundation.io/recovery

The Conclusion

The launch of the Telos Mainnet has been conducted in a very professional and transparent manner. So far the project has successfully managed to avoid the many pitfalls which made the EOS launch such a troubling experience. And at first glance Telos really seems to be the better EOS. Especially the governance model is much cleaner, trustworthy and more transparent. Therefore, in my opinion it’s safe to say that Telos is a very promising project. However, Telos does not have the publicity (neither positive nor negative) and level of adoption which EOS already managed to achieve. Furthermore the EOS project has raised a tremendous amount of Ether (ETH) during their token sale (~4 billion US$ at that time). And although the value of Ether has dropped dramatically in 2018, it’s still worth a fortune. So EOS is by any means not an easy competitor to be up against.
Whether Telos will one day be eye-to-eye with – or even surpass – EOS, remains to been seen.
But for EOS genesis account holders, it’s definitely a no-brainer: Claim those free TLOS tokens, relax and wait what will happen. Usually there’s no such thing as a “free lunch”. But hey, here you go…. 😉 And even if you’re not eligible for free TLOS tokens from the EOS genesis snapshot, yet still believe in the Telos project, now is the time to load up cheap. For example you could buy TLOS on the exchange Chainrift.

Telos Links

Website: https://telosfoundation.io/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TelosFoundation.io Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelloTelos YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheTelosNetwork Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TelosNetwork/ Medium: https://medium.com/@teloslogical Telegram (English): https://t.me/HelloTelos Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/telosfoundation.io/
Disclaimer: I’m not a certified financial planner/advisor nor a certified financial analyst and this article should not be considered professional financial investment advice. The article reflects my personal opinion. The information provided should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional. Do your own research!

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