Less than 1% of EOS addresses hold nearly 86% of tokens

Rage Review: Last week, the one-year EOS token sale was successfully concluded. After raising nearly $4 billion in funds, Block.one released the first version of the EOS mainnet software, EOSIO 1.0, as promised. This article conducts an in-depth analysis of the data on the addresses of tokens held by the EOS ecosystem and the distribution of wealth, and concludes that most EOS tokens are concentrated in a few addresses. However, it is not possible to draw meaningful conclusions from these data now, after all, the mainnet has not yet been officially launched. But apart from other things, these data still show that no matter how fair the token generation model is, the situation of uneven wealth distribution is inevitable.

Author: Josiah Wilmoth Translator: Clover

The year-long EOS token sale (ICO) came to a successful conclusion last week. After raising nearly $4 billion in funds, Block.one released the first version (and Block.one's only version) of the EOS mainnet software, EOSIO 1.0, as scheduled.

Since Block.one will not be participating in the mainnet launch, various other mainnet launch organizations have taken blockchain snapshots in preparation for distributing EOS tokens purchased during the crowdsale phase to owners of the network’s genesis block.

These snapshots allow Reddit users to compile data about wealth distribution in the nascent EOS ecosystem. We’ll dive into this data in a bit, but first there’s an important caveat.

Due to the complexity of registering tokens through the crowdfunding interface, many EOS investors chose to transfer their tokens to cryptocurrency exchanges before the snapshot to ensure that they can receive tokens on the new chain. As a result, many addresses with large amounts of tokens belong to exchanges, which are even larger than other cryptocurrencies. In addition, it is possible for an individual to register tokens to multiple addresses.

With that important qualification out of the way, here’s how wealth will be distributed among addresses (but not necessarily users) when the mainnet launches:

The network will start with 163,930 registered EOS addresses, all of which have positive token balances. For comparison, according to BitcoinPrivacy data, there are currently more than 22 million Bitcoin addresses with positive token balances.

The 10 EOS addresses with the most tokens hold 496,735,539 tokens, or 49.67% of the total supply. To enter this group, an individual would need to own 20,675,047 tokens, which is worth $280 million at current exchange prices.

Block.one, which has at least 100 million tokens ($1.4 billion), or 10% of all cryptocurrency issued, said it would not participate in an ICO (which would essentially allow the company to get tokens for free, reducing fees) and would conduct an independent audit to back up that statement. It is not clear when the audit will take place.

The top 100 addresses hold 748,176,831 tokens, or 74.82% of the total supply. To enter this tier, a minimum of 646,595 tokens ($8.7 million) is required.

The top 1000 addresses hold 858,120,383 tokens, or 85.81% of the total supply. Each of these addresses holds at least 42,941 tokens ($582,000). This group controls about 36% of the money supply on the Bitcoin network, and to enter this list, you need to hold at least $11 million worth of Bitcoin.

The remaining 162,930 EOS addresses (99.4% of all addresses) hold only 138,570,296 tokens, or 13.86% of the total supply, while 3.3 million tokens (0.33%) remain unregistered.

Fair distribution?

Why are these numbers important? First, Block.one said in its year-long ICO rationale that it would be “the fairest token launch ever launched on Ethereum.”

Block.one CEO Brendan Blumer said at the time:

“To ensure inclusion, EOS will not be sold at a fixed price, but rather at a price determined by market demand; this emulates mining activity without providing an undue advantage to large-scale buyers.”

A clearer picture of EOS network wealth distribution will emerge a week after the mainnet stable launch, when users can begin withdrawing tokens from custodial wallets and keeping them in wallets for which they control the private keys.

Therefore, it is too early to draw meaningful conclusions from this data. But if nothing else, this data may indicate that no matter how fair a particular token generation model is, wealth distribution will inevitably produce such an uneven situation. However, whether this trend becomes a problem remains to be discussed in the future.