EOS has been renamed Vaulta. Can it be reborn with the help of Web3 banking?

Original | Odaily Daily Report (@OdailyChina)

Author｜Golem (@web3_golem)

On March 18, EOS announced that it would rebrand to Vaulta and transition to Web3 banking services, specifically focusing on the "four pillars": wealth management, consumer payments, portfolio management, and insurance. The official transition will take place at the end of May 2025, at which time a token exchange portal will also be launched, allowing EOS holders to exchange EOS 1:1 for Vaulta tokens.

As soon as this news came out, OKX's market showed that EOS was also "blooming on an iron tree," with the price rising over 35% in the past 8 hours, breaking through $0.64 and reaching a recent high. This round of rebound raises the question: Can EOS, once known as the "Ethereum killer" blockchain, now positioned as the Web3 bank Vaulta, really empower its token and achieve self-rescue and rebirth? Odaily will briefly analyze this in this article.

New Empowerment, Can It Save EOS?

Transitioning from EOS to Vaulta, the EOS Network Foundation plans not only to rename the token to Vaulta but also to empower the new token, which may be one of the reasons for the rise in EOS prices. According to the disclosure from the EOS Network Foundation, the main empowerment plans for the Vaulta token are as follows:

• 17% dynamic annual yield

Although the new Vaulta token will not change the original token economics of EOS, there will still be 250 million tokens available for the staking reward program upon Vaulta's launch, and its expected dynamic annual yield will increase to 17%.

• Institutional-level DeFi Yield Strategies

Vaulta has partnered with the licensed custodian Ceffu to help Vaulta token holders implement complex institutional-grade yield strategies without sacrificing custody. Vaulta token holders can earn yields by custodizing BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, Vaulta, etc., through quantitative strategies. Such solutions have traditionally only been available to wealthy individuals or institutions, but Vaulta aims to achieve financial democratization, unlocking wealth opportunities for individuals as well.

• Integrate RWA

Vaulta plans to establish a strategic partnership with a tokenization platform to provide exclusive RWA investment opportunities for Vaulta token holders, including fractional ownership in traditional illiquid markets such as real estate, commodities, and stocks.

Vaulta's new empowerment undoubtedly brings certain market expectations for the steadfast holders of EOS. However, the real challenge lies in whether these empowerments can be successfully implemented and truly attract user and institutional participation. The issue when EOS was born was "more hype than reality"; if this transformation is the same, then in the end, it will just be a fleeting moment.

Once Claimed to be the Strongest "Ethereum Killer" Bows Out

EOS was a highly regarded public chain project 7 years ago, with a star founder, the highest fundraising in history (4 billion USD) through its ICO, millions of TPS, and 0 transaction fees, all of which made EOS the most promising "Ethereum killer". In 2018, EOS ranked fourth in the cryptocurrency market capitalization rankings. Despite its once glorious past, EOS has fallen from grace due to subsequent issues such as network crashes, community splits, developer attrition, and ecological decline, leading to a drop in price and a lack of attention.

Now, only "EOS's three waves finishing at $100" is occasionally spread as a joke in the community, reminding people of this "$4 billion air coin."

In recent years, the EOS Network Foundation has continued to build the EOS network, attempting to regain momentum, but mostly through network proposals and economic adjustments, which have not yielded good results. This strategic shift of the brand to Vaulta, with its business transitioning from a high-performance public blockchain to a Web3 banking operating system specifically for institutions and investors, represents a true "blood transfusion," and also signifies the end of EOS, once the largest "Ethereum killer." Yves La Rose, CEO of the EOS Network Foundation and founder and CEO of Vaulta, also stated that EOS is the beginning, and Vaulta is the future.

EOS is not the only "Ethereum killer" in history; later on, public chains such as Polkadot, Cosmos, Solana, and Sui have also carried this title. Even by 2025, new public chains with high TPS and performance as their selling points (like Monad) remain a favored narrative among VCs and the market. However, aside from public chains like Solana and Sui that have found their unique positioning, other public chains are also in a predicament.

The conclusion of EOS also makes us reflect once again; if we do not find a unique market positioning, perhaps the "Ethereum killers" will ultimately only end up killing themselves.