The EOS Network Foundation has demanded that Block.one honor an agreement to invest a billion dollars in the EOS Network.
In an open letter to Block.one, Yves La Rose, the founder and CEO of the EOS Network Foundation, threatened to file a class action lawsuit against the blockchain investment company.
The billion dollars that never materialized
EOS is a blockchain infrastructure platform. It is designed as a Layer One solution for building decentralized apps.
Block.one developed the software for the EOS blockchain which it released in 2018. It then raised over US$4 billion from an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), making it the largest ICO of that year.
However, since then the EOS community has been dissatisfied with Block.one.
Block.one initially committed to investing a billion dollars to support the growth and development of the network. But in Saturday’s letter, La Rose accused the company of failing to meet its obligations.
The letter stated that the company has “provided minimal real support to EOS Network’s efforts to develop the network.”
It added that:
“As time has gone by, that has become clear [Block.one] does not and has never intended to invest the promised $1 billion in EOS Network.”
EOS vs. Block.one: A Messy Divorce
It was Block.one that initially led the development of the EOS.io protocol. But by 2021, the relationship between Block.one and the EOS Network Foundation had become fraught.
After failing to obtain the intellectual property rights to Block.one’s EOS software, the network’s block producers banded together to halt payments of EOS tokens to the company. Block.one was originally set to receive 100 million EOS over ten years. But after being fired by the EOS community, the company only received $33 million.
Now Block.one’s problem child is threatening even more drastic action.
EOS Network Foundation threatens legal action
In the open letterThe EOS Network Foundation is calling on EOS token holders to take legal action against Block.one for violating its pledge to invest in the EOS ecosystem.
The letter claims that both the functionality of the EOS network and the price of the EOS token have suffered from Block.one’s underinvestment.
Certainly, after the biggest ICO of 2018, the project has not lived up to expectations. And currently, the EOS token is trading at just a fraction of its 2018 value.
“If enough token holders are interested in filing a legal claim, a class action lawsuit is a possibility,” the letter said. It adds that the EOS Network Foundation is willing to bring together token holders to file a claim against Block.one.
Furthermore, the letter suggests that block producers are considering a hard fork that would exclude tokens from Block.one. This would result in Block.one being completely removed from ownership and governance of the network. The subsequent decline in token supply could also boost the price of EOS.