Staking loop of error.
This seems to be something that needs to be fixed as soon as possible.
Now who is draining the CPU?
From the first moment I became aware of EOS, the blockchain operating system, I was very positive about its potential. Only was sorry I had not invested more in the beginning. Then the excitement when it all began, EOS live, finally. Trying to figure out what it all was doing, RAM, buy and sell, cool. Staking CPU and NET, with a 3 day cool-down period for unstaking. Seemed having a lot staked for CPU and Bandwidth {NET} was a bit of over the top. Did some transactions, bought and sold RAM, created a couple of new addresses and so on. CPU was critical now and then, but it was easy to just stake some more. RAM {Random Acces Memory} was also needed to be filled with a couple of KB {Kilo Byte}. But it was unclear to me why there needed to be that much EOS staked. Did my voting, but it did not have that much weight to it. Today I wanted to do some more RAM buying. And then the shait hit the fan, bit time. Seemed I was not the only one that got trapped in an eternal loop though...
EOS is build on market principles of supply and demand, seems fair. But my guess is that a lot of EOS members, with one or more accounts, did not oversee the effects of this concept. Surely I did not, it was even fun speculating on RAM prices going up and down. Today I got denied buying RAM at one website interface, so I tried another one. And I already had noticed that not all block-producers {BP} seemed to be able to keep up with the pressure of the network. Some wallets don't work, websites give errors, it is all in the game of some new concept, I do understand that. This might scare off a lot of people though and leave it to play with for early adopters. Until things become more stable and clear. But then this CPU limit trouble came about and that did not have me curse right away. It is way to hot over here in Nederland to do so any way. Just thinking about it already breaks a sweat. Sitting behind a computer typing this post made it even worse.
The dilemma
You need sufficient RAM, CPU and NET to be able to perform certain actions (inside transactions) on the EOS blockchain. Same kind of thing is happening on the Steem blockchain, where without a minimum of 5 SP {Steem Power} at stake, nothing can be done. At first members got enough Steem Power with their new account to get going, but as the inflation of new Steem per block dropped to 10%, effectively, this became too expensive. So, this was solved by using delegated SP, until the member buys SP for its own account or earned enough powered up Steem to end the need of delegation. But, the account of a member always needs some staked SP to be able to post and so on. For EOS this is the same kind of system. Needed are CPU {Processing time} and NET {Bandwidth} staked as EOS. Als RAM, which is totally free to trade. And then there is the in Wallet EOS, that can be used to transfer freely, to by RAM or to stake more CPU and NET. Now, all of a sudden though there are these strange absurd values for CPU usage. Where members first were using just a fraction of their CPU, and also staked EOS taking that value in account, suddenly they were unable to do any (trans)action. Some have overused CPU at tens of thousands of percent. Mine was just over 82%, but even downto 71% I still can not do a thing to add more EOS to my CPU stake. Why? Because that takes CPU time to get done...
Well, this is just f'in marvelous is it not? Yeah, well, it is the market doing its job there, all of a sudden CPU demand wend up like crazy. Why? Seems there is something draining CPU power on the EOS blockchain. And as I see a few block-producers unable to keep up with demand I almost suspect foul play, like an attack, abusing some kind of smart contract. Or some highly awaited dApp {Decentralized Application} got launched, that might be possible too. Matter of the fact is though that CPU demand wend up like crazy, thus leaving a lot of members unable to make use of their accounts. But then the solution would be simple, at least my thought was right away: buy more CPU stake! Still had some EOS to do so. Unfortunately even that (trans)action failed over and over again. There is no kind of mempool structure that will do the transactions as soon as CPU demand dropped, so they are just rejected. And EOS blockchain members just have to wait to be able to do CPU intensive (trans)actions one the demand drops. It is the logic of the market where supply and demand determine the price and if one can effort to join in. But, in this case there is one but...
If you have the EOS, but cannot buy.
This is where Steem has its delegated SP system. And it will even become more flexible when the Resource Tokens {RT} come in play with the next fork. Now I do not know if EOS should use the same kind of strategy as delegated EOS stake, but the developers should do something about this all. As I guess there are many EOS blockchain member who depend on there accounts to work. And when it does not, to make it easy to use EOS, from their wallet, to upgrade any RAM, CPU or NET. When I have the EOS, I should be able to buy more RAM, CPU and or NET, any time. Any market would let me buy anything if I had the money available. How I get that money is my challenge, but once I have it, I should be able to use it on any free market. If the demand is extremely high and I still want to join in then that is my choice to make. But having the EOS in Wallet and being unable to move some into RAM, CPU and or NET just seems like a serious bug to me, that needs to be fixed ASAP {As Soon As Possible}. So c'mon block.one, you've got quite a few billion stashed somewhere, must be a few grand worth to solve this endless loop...?
There are a few intensive dApps coming to an EOS blockchain near you. These will put quite some strain on RAM, CPU and, ultimately, on NET prices. My guess is that they wont drop on the longer term. More demand means more scarcity, pumping the price. Yet, there is a danger that things go to absurd values and get stuck in a loop, where many cannot buy and or stake more RAM, CPU and or NET. No matter how much EOS they have in wallet, or are able and willing to buy on an exchange. Maybe it should become possible to use this as market service? That could be a solution, just like with buying Steem Power {SP} through the service of other accounts. Somehow the solution must be there, again done in a free market way, of demand and supply. And maybe there already are services who provide these kind of solutions, as it is possible to do so with the EOS blockchain operating system. So EOS is not failing, no, but it is quite a new way of handling things, which has a lot of potential, is very complex and will take some time to get the complete hang of it. So now I am going to look for a service that accepts my EOS wallet payment transaction, as that is still possible, to use it to give me more RAM, CPU and or NET.
That would be a free market solution I guess, which Block.One could start, or help building, because it needs to have some form of trust. Just sending EOS to an account, that might be rogue, means losing the EOS. It would be a simple way of using the message part to construct what is asked and to accept the price automatically when sending the transaction. Therefore I think EOS is not failing, it is just evolving, showing how the effects of supply and demand work. It might have more impact than many have thought when they only put a little EOS on stake. So now one or more external services that offer RAM, CPU and or NET loading might be a welcome addition to the EOSphere... And if you already know of such a service, please share it in the comment section below.
Have a great one!
Try again when CPU demand drops? But what if it does not, ever again!?
Screenshot taken at https://toolkit.genereos.io/