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A New Era Begins! Community-Run Framework Antelope Leaps Ahead!

The EOS Network Foundation (ENF), TelosWax, and UX Network have combined resources into a coalition of blockchains with a shared codebase. With talented coalition engineers working alongside Object Computing and other contributors throughout the ecosystem, these tireless efforts are bearing fruit. For our many stakeholders, this is a major accomplishment that is foundational for growth. A new era of community-led development is upon us.

Today we are excited to announce Antelope!  The story of how we got here is just the beginning, and the journey ahead will be even more rewarding. If you’ve been part of this remarkable community every step of the way, you may wish to read ahead, but the history of what brought us here is informative. Here is a cursory overview.

A Coalition with a Shared Vision

In mid-2021, Block.one ceased supporting EOSIO development, which put the future of EOS and all other EOSIO-based blockchains in jeopardy. These blockchains had always shared a common codebase, but each were pursuing increasingly separate evolutionary paths without any notable interchain collaboration. In August 2021, the EOS Network took its first steps towards independence when its block producers reached consensus to fund the EOS Network Foundation and empower it to deploy resources on behalf of the network itself. Upon its inception, the ENF launched a number of urgent initiatives, breathing life back into the EOS ecosystem.

In November of 2021, the ENF began directing resources to various working groups led by key network stakeholders. Leveraging the talent, intelligence, and passion of the developer community, these working groups produced a series of Blue Papers; research documents that outlined areas for improvement and specific recommendations that formed the building blocks for a series of RFPs (Request For Proposals). One such working group, EOSIO+, was formed to explore the possibilities of coordination among EOSIO-based blockchains, to preserve and advance the codebase that they all share in common. The EOSIO+ working group began outreach to all of the existing EOSIO blockchains in an effort to form a broad coalition.

In parallel with these efforts, the ENF had contracted Dan Larimer and Fractally to fork EOSIO to initiate a community-led independent codebase known as “Mandel”. This initiative was then handed over to the ENF engineering team and its technical partners to continue adding new features and improvements while working towards a formal consensus upgrade for the EOS Network. The Mandel Upgrade Launch Group was formed to coordinate these efforts and began meeting regularly to synchronize the manpower, communications, and testing that would be needed to undertake a consensus upgrade for the EOS Network. The codename, Mandel, came to be a placeholder for the yet to be decided new brand that would replace EOSIO.

Over several weeks of EOSIO+ meetings, the various teams discussed models for cooperation, decision making, financial support and development priorities. On March 23rd of 2022, the EOSIO+ working group drafted a statement of purpose, highlighting the need for a “system that allows parties that depend on EOSIO to help fund, organize, and prioritize the future of that software”, and laid out an eleven point roadmap for such a system to follow. On March 24th, EOS and Telos agreed to join the EOSIO+ coalition. On March 31st, WAX and UX Network also joined.

In April 2022, EOS, Telos, UX Network, and WAX voted to pool their resources and assume the development of the EOSIO code upon which nearly all EOSIO-based blockchains rely. With an initial budgetary commitment for core development and developer outreach the coalition was born.

In the intervening months, The EOSIO+ coalition retained a professional branding agency to assist in developing the new name and visual identity to replace EOSIO.  In parallel, the group selected a handful of RFPs from a longer list of the top 22 priority items needed to improve the core protocol. They introduced weekly recorded meetings and set the tone for openness, collaboration and transparency.

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Find out more and read full press release here.

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