Author: Frank, PANews

Once hailed as the "Ethereum killer," EOS has officially announced a brand upgrade to Vaulta, initiating a strategic transformation centered around Web3 banking. Shifting from public chain infrastructure to institutional-level banking narratives, the EOS Foundation finds inspiration in reconstructing the Bitcoin ecosystem through exSat, using this brand reshaping as an opportunity to completely sever historical burdens.

Behind this transformation lies the resignation of losing the competition in the public chain track, or is it an ambition to bet on the compliance of Web3 finance? As the Vaulta token replaces EOS, the scarcity of RAM surpasses that of the native token, and exSat's independent ecosystem takes the lead, a shell-like ecological metamorphosis has quietly begun.

Canadian Asset Custody Institutions Enter the Scene, Can They Complete the Web3 Banking Transformation?

In the latest brand upgrade plan, EOS highlights several key points. First is the upcoming narrative of the Web3 banking brand, second is the path to realize this narrative, and third are some potential changes in token economics.

Firstly, the reasons for focusing on Web3 banking in the brand upgrade direction are emphasized in the announcement: one is the continuous increase in the global adoption rate of cryptocurrencies; two is the ongoing rise in the market capitalization of stablecoins; and three is the market potential of RWA. From these starting points, EOS's new goal seems to be to become another XRP, and this transformation appears to be related to the external environment of the crypto market.

In addition, Vaulta has announced the establishment of a banking advisory committee, though its current position and specific role in ecological governance have not been mentioned.

From the backgrounds of several members of this banking advisory committee, it is evident that these institutions are not traditional banks but primarily asset custody institutions, and they have a strong regional characteristic, all coming from Alberta, Canada. Among them, ATB Financial is the largest financial institution in Alberta, established in 1938, with assets of $65.5 billion and serving over 830,000 customers. The other companies are digital asset custody firms created in recent years, with no specific asset management scale publicly disclosed.

However, overall, while the cooperating financial institutions hold Canadian compliance licenses, whether their regional attributes align with Vaulta's global Web3 banking vision remains questionable.

The Upgrade Named EOS, Actually Dresses Up exSat

In the new announcement, Vaulta mentioned four major business directions as core pillars: wealth management, consumer payments, securities investment, and insurance. Among these four areas, particular attention can be paid to the exSat business aimed at institutions within wealth management.

exSat is a project launched in 2024 within the EOS ecosystem concerning the scalability of Bitcoin. As a "Docking Layer," it connects the Bitcoin main chain with layer 2 scaling solutions, using EOS RAM to store and process Bitcoin data, enhancing Bitcoin's performance and interoperability. Its primary function is to enable faster, lower-cost Bitcoin transactions and provide space for DeFi operations within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

This project seems to have gained influence beyond EOS itself; as of March 20, 5,413 BTC were staked on exSat, with a TVL of $587 million, far exceeding the $174 million of the EOS mainnet.

Therefore, it is not difficult to see why the key directions in the brand upgrade plan are primarily centered around exSat rather than EOS. In fact, exSat has an independent consensus mechanism (a combination of POS, POW, and DPOS), and currently has 39 validators, some of which include well-known crypto institutions such as Certik, Hashkey, Bitget, F2pool, OKX, and Matrixpt. From various characteristics, exSat seems to have become another independent public chain that has grown out of EOS, while still utilizing EOS's RAM and block space.

Vaulta Token to Be Launched, Token Power Diminished, RAM Scarcity Increased

In terms of token economics, Vaulta will replace the EOS token with the Vaulta token. However, it is evident that the new Vaulta token will have significantly diminished governance functions. Just as this brand upgrade plan was not introduced through a voting proposal but directly released by the EOS Foundation, the governance of the EOS network seems to have become nominal.

The announcement states, "Vaulta token holders can stake their tokens and earn rewards, actively participate in governance, and vote to elect block producers responsible for managing network consensus and security. As Vaulta develops, token holders of various scales can participate in discussions and proposals." This description indicates that the main benefit for token holders is staking rewards, while governance seems limited to electing block leaders, which is inherent to the DPOS consensus mechanism and does not fall under the category of governance. As for when token holders can participate in substantive governance, the explanation remains in the hands of the foundation.

However, based on the current price of EOS tokens and TVL, this block reward seems merely to satisfy the normal operation of infrastructure, with no one actively promoting the expansion of the EOS ecosystem, merely laying the groundwork for exSat. Additionally, the announcement states that EOS tokens can be exchanged 1:1 for Vaulta tokens, but it does not clarify whether Vaulta tokens will be issued additionally on the current basis of EOS.

With this brand upgrade, the importance of RAM seems to have greater scarcity than the EOS token. "As Vaulta expands its role in decentralized finance and Web3 banking, the inherent scarcity of RAM and the growing demand place holders in a unique advantageous position."

RAM is the operating memory within the EOS network, and all products running on the EOS network need to lease memory. exSat is no exception, and due to the current design of RAM's total supply, inflation has stopped. Therefore, as a strategic resource within the network, the practicality and value potential of RAM seem to surpass that of the token itself.

From the price trend, RAM's price movement appears to be much more stable than that of EOS tokens.

A $4 Billion ICO Financing Behemoth, Disappointedly Exiting the Historical Stage

Essentially, the most significant change in this brand upgrade seems to be the complete abandonment of EOS's original route. Due to the failures in ecological construction over the years, EOS has declared failure in its competitive direction within the public chain. Fortunately, EOS has consistently performed well in terms of performance; the new Vaulta brand seems to integrate the existing infrastructure of EOS with the well-performing exSat network launched last year. Whether Vaulta's Web3 banking can succeed remains uncertain. However, one thing is certain: the EOS brand will completely exit the historical stage.

In fact, for users who entered the crypto space earlier, the end of EOS seems lamentable. In 2017, EOS raised $4 billion through an ICO, setting a record in crypto history. At that time, the founder of Solana was still struggling to secure funding, ultimately receiving only $3.17 million in seed round support.

In 2018, with the launch of its mainnet, EOS's influence was at its peak, much like Solana's current suppression of Ethereum. The market was rife with voices claiming EOS would soon become the new king of public chains. Its price peaked at $15.6, with a market cap nearing $18 billion, ranking third in the market. Currently, the market cap of EOS tokens is only $870 million, ranking 97th.

This enormous gap is primarily due to the inaction of Block.one, the project party that received massive funding. All the official projects launched have sunk without a trace. With the resignation of founder Daniel Larimer from the position of CTO at Block.one, the community's trust in EOS has further evaporated.

Although a new EOS Network Foundation was established later, and multiple economic model adjustments and infrastructure upgrades were made in 2024, it seems to have failed to create a ripple in the market. By the end of 2024, after launching exSat, EOS unexpectedly achieved some success in building the Bitcoin ecosystem. Interestingly, the EOS network has never included exSat's data in its own ecosystem data, seemingly intending to make a distinction from the very beginning. Perhaps this Vaulta upgrade is not a temporary plan but a long-planned strategy.

The brand effect of EOS seems to have lost all value, which is why the EOS Foundation chose to conduct this upgrade in an almost completely abandoned manner (although the name Vaulta may not be more intuitive or memorable).

Once, a saying circulated in the EOS community: "You will never see EOS below $100 again." With this brand transformation, that statement has finally come true. However, this time it is unrelated to market trends, but rather that EOS will no longer be seen.

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