EOS: Unpacking the Big Promises Behind a Possible Blockchain Contender

What should investors make of this mysterious project? And what should they think when, as part of an effort to build the platform, they hear the company is raising funds through a four-stage offering of 1 billion EOS tokens, scheduled to commence Monday?

A controversial figure in the blockchain community, Larimer has won praise for his intrepid and heterodox approach to developing new projects, but also scorn for the way in which he's handled and exited those same endeavors.

Larimer's departure from BitShares came with the launch of another project, Steem, in 2016.

One CEO Brendan Blumer, argue that while these projects have had their hiccups, they served as the foundational building blocks of this capstone project: EOS. Each project, Larimer claims, solved a core problem inhibiting the widespread use of blockchain applications on a commercial scale.

According to Tone Vays, a blockchain consultant, in both Larimer's former projects, the cryptocurrencies at work were controlled predominantly by a small inner circle looking to hype the platform.

"Dan Larimer has started several proof-of-stake based projects and they have all been shady in nature," Vays said.

Chris DeRose, an industry pundit and software developer, argues Larimer's past claims and value propositions have been "Completely divorced from reality" and his current project should not be taken seriously, either.

A "Centralized clusterfuck" and contended Larimer's projects will "Always be top-down controlled disasters."

Larimer pushed back against accusations that he let his previous projects die on a vine by highlighting that both Steem and Bitshares are continuing to generate strong interest.

"I'm working with an extremely professional team that is managing EOS at a higher level than the previous projects."