Is buying EOS like buying Bitcoin at a discount?

A Twitter exchange about EOS, and its lackluster performance, has renewed focus on Block.one’s Bitcoin reserves.

Trader @i_am_jackis asked the Twitterverse why the EOS market cap is “still 1.2B?,” adding that EOS holders should move on and sell for BTC.

“How is EOS still 1.2B mcap?  If people just rotated to that to BTC we could all be happy umpa lumpas”

EOS has fallen out of favor with users, primarily due to its disappointing, poor price action over the years. As a result, some have labeled EOS a ghost chain.

EOS has lost its shine

Block.one’s year-long Initial Coin Offering (ICO), which ended in June 2018, raised a staggering $4.1 billion, making it the biggest capital raise in crypto history.

Given the sum raised, expectations for EOS were high. And Block.one promised an “Ethereum-killer” capable of out-doing the leading dApp platform.

Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out that way. A series of adverse events, including claims that EOS is incapable of hitting touted speeds of 5,000 to 1,000,000 transactions per second and its Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) chain is highly centralized, rocked the project.

“Based on these findings, it becomes clear that EOS is fundamentally similar to a centralized cloud computing architecture without the fundamental components of a blockchain or peer-to-peer network.”

Fours years from the ICO close, its user base had shrunk significantly, and its dApps failed to generate the same traction as seen on rival chains. But more crucially, the EOS price has been in freefall since its April 2018 peak of $22.70.

Other than a brief fakeout in May 2021, where the price spiked to $14.70, EOS has been trending downwards, seemingly unable to break the downtrend.

During a virtual meeting of users in November 2021, the CEO of the community project EOS Nation, Yves La Rose, called EOS a failure.

“EOS, as it stands, is a failure.”

How much are the Bitcoin reserves worth?

In response to @i_am_jackis, @h_bitcoiner pointed out that Block.one’s reported 140,000 Bitcoin reserves are valued at “way more” than EOS’s market cap.

The EOS market cap currently comes in at $1.265 billion. Whereas Block.one’s Bitcoin reserves are valued at approximately $4.2 billion, equating to slightly above three times the EOS market cap.

@h_bitcoiner signed off by reiterating a past claim that buying EOS is like buying discounted BTC.

$EOS Bitcoin reserves worth way more than entire EOS marketcap

140k BTC

Idk but there is speculation by buying $EOS, you are actually buying $BTC at discount

— Symph (@h_bitcoiner) June 1, 2022

However, there are no reward mechanisms in place where Block.one rewards EOS token holders with Bitcoin. As such, it’s flawed to say buying EOS is the same as buying Bitcoin.