8

EOS (is currently under development) is an open source smart contract platform like Ethereum.

=> What are the main differences between Ethereum and EOS such as:

  • How EOS is different than Ethereum that it brings block time to 0.5 seconds? How is this possible since Ethereum's average block time is around ~12 seconds? Please see following question related to Ethereum average block time in detail.

Vitalik Buterin mentioned that:

Hence, a 3-second target block time (and 5s actual block time) may be quite viable. As usual, we’ll be more conservative at first and not take things that far, but a block time of 12s does nevertheless seem to be very much achievable.

  • What are the things that EOS can do that Ethereum cannot?

  • Ethereum vs EOS: Technical Differences.

  • Ethereum vs EOS: Scalability.

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

  • How EOS is different than Ethereum that it brings block time to 0.5 seconds?

In EOS, each producer creates 6 consecutive blocks before handing off to the next producer. Therefore, in these 3 seconds (6 x 0.5), there is no latency to propagate blocks as they're created by the same producer. The latency is a problem during hand-off, so it's possible that the last few blocks or the next few blocks get orphaned, which is why there are plugins suggested to minimise latency by accounting for geographical location of BPs.

  • And why 21 and not for example 1001.

I answered this on the EOSIO StackExchange, so I'll paste my answer here:

It's a number that Dan Larimer arrived to after some experimentation in his previous projects (BitShares, Graphene, and Steem.) For instance, one of Dan Larimer's previous project, BitShares had 101 producers, and he mentioned that this raised a significant governance issue as members of the community wouldn't keep up with researching 101 different BPs and educate themselves to vote accordingly. Therefore, based on user feedback, he decided on a number that would allow people to stay informed while also providing security via block producing decentralization.

For Dan Larimer's explanation, see this video interview. Excerpt:

I introduced first version of DPoS with 101 block producers. They were all elected by approval voting, and then BitShares 2--or Graphene--reduced the number from 101 to a user-defined number so that as people vote they can vote... if they vote for more, then there will be more; if they vote for less, there will be less, and that gives you an idea of how many people the community is actually able to vote for and what we saw was that when the community is in control the quantity it stayed around 15 people or so.

So with Steem, I made the decision to just hard code it to 21, which would be more decentralized than the community was doing on its own and BitShares because that was about the throughput of the attention and the ability of people to vote.

  • What are the things that EOS can do that Ethereum cannot?

    Ethereum vs EOS: Technical Differences.

    Ethereum vs EOS: Scalability.

These are very broad questions difficult to answer here. I suggest taking a look at the whitepaper as it may answer your questions.

Improve this answer
1

A major difference difference between EOS and Ethereum, is how use you choose block producers aka node.

Currently Ethereum uses Proof-of-Work based mining algorithm "dagger-hashimoto" and in future going to change it to Proof-of-Stake based mining algorithm "casper" to select block producer who will sign next block.

Whereas EOS uses Delegated-Proof-of-Stake based algorithm, in EOS, token holders vote to choose 21 block producers(There might be certain requirements here ex. certain amount of EOS token locked). Only these 21 chosen block producers will sign blocks on behalf of all EOS users.

Given above conditions block time in EOS will drastically reduced given only 21 block producers exists, whereas in Ethereum it is open that any one mining in network can theoretically be a block producer, so fixing block time to 15 seconds is design decision. If block time in Ethereum is reduced more orphan blocks will be produced and it will be difficult to chose longest chain.

Improve this answer
7
  • what is aka node? @kherwa
    – alper
    Jun 17, 2018 at 14:14
  • In Ethereum we don’t use terminology Block Producers, we simply say Nodes. That’s why I have written also known as (aka)
    – kherwa
    Jun 17, 2018 at 14:24
  • Isn’t 21 node is very small value since Ethereum has thousands of miners. And why 21 and not for example 1001. How those 21 nodes distributed around the world? If they are in same building and if the building burn down all signers will be gone, it seems like not a trustable system.
    – alper
    Jun 17, 2018 at 14:27
  • 1
    I have not read their design decisions, but these 21 block producers are geographically located( but again it is their design decision, how they are going to enforce it). Even if they are geographically located , they can collide given their small numbers. I think that is a trade off into their system design so that users have more tps at the expense of decentralisation.
    – kherwa
    Jun 17, 2018 at 15:02
  • As I understand Delegated-Proof-of-Stake based algorithm is similar to proof-of-authorithy. But even proof of authority on Ethereum has minimum around 5 seconds (ethereum.stackexchange.com/a/38228/4575), based on poa.network. Without testing it how can EOS say that their block time is 0.5 seconds, it seems to good to be true.
    – alper
    Jun 18, 2018 at 14:04

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.