The PoS Public Chain Competition: A Comparative Analysis of ETH2.0, Tezos, and Cosmos Data

In 2020, the issuance of PoS public chains became one of the hot topics in the market. This article will analyze and compare the three major PoS projects: ETH2.0, Tezos, and Cosmos, based on on-chain data, and explore the distribution of their holding addresses and quantities.

ETH2.0 is a major upgrade of Ethereum, transitioning from a PoW consensus mechanism to PoS. This means that the new issuance rate of ETH will drop from around 10% to below 2%, lower than the inflation rate of traditional currencies, which is expected to enhance the scarcity of ETH.

Tezos is a high-performance underlying public blockchain with self-amending capabilities. XTZ token holders can stake or delegate to participate in governance, avoiding the risk of forks. The project also has layouts in directions such as DeFi and compliant finance.

Cosmos aims to provide scalability and interoperability between blockchains. Its Tendermint Core and IBC protocol form a universal architecture that supports interoperability between different cryptocurrency main chains.

The PoS consensus mechanism has become the mainstream trend of the new generation of public chains. Staking involves participating in network security management by pledging tokens, preventing inflation from diluting the value of the tokens. Compared to PoW mining, PoS is easier for ordinary users to participate in.

Token Distribution

As of June 17, 2020, there are a total of 101 million ETH accounts, but most do not hold any tokens. The top 10 addresses hold 15.93% of the tokens, the top 100 addresses hold 35.32%, and the top 1000 addresses hold 64.87%.

There are a total of 31,358 ATOM addresses and 125 validators. The top 10 addresses hold 88.82% of the tokens, the top 100 addresses hold 98.62%, and the top 1000 addresses hold 99.94%.

Tezos has a total of 546,382 addresses and 494 validators. The top 10 addresses hold 20.71% of the tokens, the top 100 addresses hold 53.24%, and the top 1000 addresses hold 81.23%.

In comparison, ETH performs best in terms of decentralization. As a newer public chain, Tezos also has a relatively good token distribution, especially the holding ratio of the top 10 and top 100 addresses is comparable to that of ETH. This shows that Tezos has certain advantages in decentralization.

The degree of decentralization is a key indicator of a project's potential. The more accounts there are and the more dispersed the holding addresses, the larger the user base and the more democratic the governance. From this data, there are not many public chains that can challenge Ethereum in the short term, but Tezos shows strong competitive potential.

Staking Rate and Expected Returns

As of June 18, 2020, the dynamic staking rate of ATOM is 93.88%, with an annualized return of 9.26%. The total market value is $511 million, while the non-staked circulating market value is only $31.3 million. Based on the current staking rate and return, the annual issuance of ATOM is approximately 16.58 million, which is 1.42 times the current non-staked circulating tokens.

The dynamic staking rate of XTZ during the same period is 79.93%, with an annualized yield of 6.94%. The total market value is $1.937 billion, with a total circulation of 733 million. According to the current parameters, XTZ issues approximately 4.068 million tokens annually, valued at $10.7 million, which is 27% of the non-staked circulating tokens.

The high inflation rate of ATOM may put pressure on market prices, which is unfavorable for later participants. In contrast, the inflation rate of XTZ is relatively reasonable.

Wallet Address Activity

38% of ETH addresses have been active in the past year, accounting for 76.01% of the total circulation.

56.2% of addresses on Tezos were active in the past year, accounting for 95.17% of the circulation. The top 1000 addresses have been trading frequently in the past 30 days.

44.25% of addresses in Cosmos have been active in the past month, and 95.5% have been active in the past 1-5 months.

Overall, the address activity of Tezos and Cosmos is relatively high, especially Tezos, where over 60% of addresses have remained active in the past month. This is related to the shorter launch time of both projects and the active participation of early supporters.

Many exchanges and wallets have now integrated Staking functionality, providing convenience for users to participate. For example, the Staking support for XTZ by Coinbase and Binance has promoted the activity of XTZ.

The decentralized governance and ecological improvement of future public chains will be key. Tezos and Cosmos are both committed to providing interoperability, such as asset on-chain and tzBTC development on Tezos. These attempts help expand application scenarios and increase user participation.

Overall, ETH leads in terms of decentralization, but Tezos also performs well. Tezos and Cosmos currently have high staking rates, but caution is needed regarding the potential impact of inflation on the market. In terms of activity, Tezos and Cosmos perform well, but Cosmos faces greater economic pressure.

Therefore, Tezos is expected to become one of the dark horses in the PoS race, competing with ETH 2.0. The competitiveness of future PoS public chains will also depend on the development of the developer community, innovation capabilities, differentiated advantages, and the optimization of governance structures.