Photo by Daniel Incandela/Flickr
On October 6, Block.one reported that Google Cloud, a global cloud and infrastructure provider, will join the EOS community to become its newest block producer. As the EOS is built on the EOSIO blockchain protocol, a network of 21 producers will allow an unlimited number of nodes to mine and verify transactions, with all 21 nodes being elected by current EOS holders.
According to the announcement, Google Cloud will leverage the EOS network performance capabilities and open-source community to become a block producer and assist pioneering organizations in incorporating distributed ledger technology into their infrastructures.
“Google Cloud will continue to provide its highly provisioned, low-latency infrastructure to Block.one,” said Dan Larimer, CTO at Block.one. “Through secure oracles, inter-chain transaction reporting, key management, and high-integrity full-node validation, Google Cloud’s confidential computing infrastructure will enhance the security, scalability, and decentralization of blockchain technology.”
After becoming a block producer candidate, Google Cloud will need to be selected by token holders to secure a position within the ranks in the EOS network. To support block producer candidacies, each EOS holder can stake their tokens and cast their vote in a particular election. Users can vote for up to 30 block producer candidates and change their votes at any time. After the elections, the 21 candidates with the most tokens staked in their favor will be responsible for validating transactions and sharing token inflation from EOS.
“With the majority of global public blockchain activity, EOS is a powerful solution for anyone looking to leverage the decentralized ecosystem with ease,” said Brendan Blumer, CEO of Block.one. “The Google Cloud team understands the thriving EOS community and the highly performant EOSIO technology on which it builds create the best entry point into the blockchain industry. We welcome Google Cloud to the EOS community and are excited for their contributions to the EOS network.”
As Block.one is one of the largest token holders, the organization began its voting activity for producers sometime around late May. By controlling around 10% of all EOS, the vote of the company is extremely influential for the blockchain community and their support for Google Cloud will surely play a part in the final decision.