Block.one’s EOS-based social media app, Voice, to launch in February

Block.one, the company behind the EOS blockchain, is aiming to launch a beta version of its well-funded social media app, Voice, on Feb. 14, 2020. After publicly announcing its plans for Voice last June, Block.one revealed it spent roughly ~$150 million to develop the app, a total that includes a $30 million purchase of the Voice.com domain name. The company designed Voice as an open-source alternative to contemporary social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter that avoids harvesting user data for profit. Instead, the new app employs a new token-based rewards mechanism (leverage its Voice token) to reward content creators, and it will use a unique user authentication system to prevent the creation of fake accounts.

Why it matters:

• Since Block.one does not intend to harvest user data (aka digital oil) for profit, how will Voice provide a return on investment? The company’s revenue strategy appears to be two-fold: (1) If successful, the EOS-based Voice may increase demand for EOS tokens, thus placing upward pressure on token price. Block.one allocated 10% of the initial EOS supply (100 million tokens) to itself. (2) Early reports suggest Voice will have an inflationary issuance model to reward platform users, and Block.one aims to capitalized on this design by taxing a portion of newly minted Voice tokens. The token dependent revenue model is (slightly) offset through the firm’s ownership of the Voice.com domain name, which could also increase in time for reasons unrelated to the platform’s success.
• Despite the progress with Voice, the network status for EOS is not in an ideal state at the moment. The EOS network entered into “congestion mode,” which limits the number of transactions a user can submit, in early Nov. following the launch of the EIDOS airdrop contract. An ominous notice posted by EOS dApp EarnBet suggests the congestion problems remain unresolved. EarnBet is also threatening to move to another chain if these issues persist over the next few weeks, a move that could persuade other EOS applications to follow suit.