Steem - As controversial as the Soft Fork was, it was probably the right move...
While controversial, the move taken Sunday night was probably the right move to take for Steem
If you haven't heard by now, the top witnesses (and many others) had been working together for much of the last week and into the weekend in order to do something they felt would protect the blockchain.
And protect the blockchain they did!
They initiated what was called a soft fork where the majority of the top witnesses started running code that basically locked the known steemit,inc stake.
It can't vote, or be transferred out.
But wasn't this the stake that was just purchased by Justin Sun for $10 million (rumored amount)?
Yep, which is exactly why this move was so controversial.
As it stands now, Justin Sun basically spent $10 million (again rumored price) for steemit.com the website and possibly the steem name depending on how this all shakes out. His pile of tokens are currently worthless after the soft fork.
A hefty price to pay for a website that can barely generate $20k per month in ad revenue and possibly a brand name that may or may not be heavily tarnished within the broader crypto community depending on who you talk to.
Given all of that, this was still probably the right move to make to protect the steem blockchain...
Why do I say that?
Given all the circumstantial evidence, there was good reason to believe Justin Sun's ultimate goal was to move steem over to the tron network and have it operate as steemtron (or whatever name he chose).
Some of that evidence being the fact that he said as much in numerous news reports.
He would later go on to walk some of those statements back, only to have them said again at a later time.
His statements were confusing and contradicting to say the least.
Adding to that evidence was the fact that another one of his acquisitions, DLive, is currently seeing the blockchain that it was running on undergoing a token swap/exchange:
(Source: https://twitter.com/BitTorrent/status/1232251068119052289)
Keep in mind that lino is/was very different than steem.
Lino tokens were not trading on other exchanges and were currently only available on Dlive, so just because he is moving the lino token holders over doesn't necessarily mean he would have done the same for steem...
but still...
The smoke is there.
Steem the blockchain now more likely to survive going forward...
By the witnesses taking the actions that they did, they made the chances of the existing steem coin being swapped/exchange for another token less likely, though it could technically still be offered.
If this would have happened the steem coin and chain as we know it would have lost a lot of its potential.
Right now steem is being built to be a fabric chain.
A chain where many other projects can build upon.
Had steem migrated over to tron, that fabric chain possibility likely goes out the window.
It could have continued to run on its own of course as steem classic, but it would have turned into a head to head battle with the swapped coin, steemtron.
A battle for exchange listings, users, brand etc.
Sun would have likely used his connections to get steemtron listed on numerous exchanges and possibly even gone to our current exchanges and convinced them that steemtron was the new steem coin.
Measures like this would have likely resulted in lower prices for steem classic and possibly eventually resulted in its demise.
What was done recently by the witnesses ensures that the current blockchain is allowed to survive and hopefully thrive.
It remains to be seen what kind of deals or agreements can be made at the upcoming meeting with Justin Sun, but we are in a better position now than we might had been had this not happened.
Personally, I am cautiously optimistic and hoping for the best.
There could be negative fall out from this still, possibly in ways that we can't really see as of right now, but as it stands right now the worst case scenario is likely less-worse than the previous worst case scenario could have been.
When the dust settles and this is all said and done, this may go down as one of the best things ever done for steem or one of the worst, time will tell.
The odds lean much more heavily towards it being a good thing though in my opinion.
Stay informed my friends.
Image Source:
https://coinrivet.com/incentivising-social-media-how-steem-is-powering-a-new-platform/
-Doc
I've read sentiment from both sides and I agree that stake should never be frozen if purchased outright or earned but this stake was pre-mined under the premise of being used to run steemit inc with the idea of it being diluted over time. I think the soft fork set a precedent that this is what decentralisation is all about, we shouldn't be bullied or only be at the mercy of someone with deep pockets, we already have that in the current centralised systems and that's why we moved to crypto, so I think it keeps within the spirit of what we want as a community.
Justins money and stake should be no more superior to anyone else which is currently the case and the soft fork shows this community is bigger than any 1 person.
There was terrible communication from Justin and while one interview with andracy may have "cleared" things up, we all know its a lot of lip service.
Justin wants to port over the user base to tron to inflate trons user numbers and transaction numbers thats the bottom line. His got no dapps on his chain that are worth anything to a community let alone be compared to steem so this cut and paste was his idea, regardless of what he says we know that's the end game
If the witnesses acted only in their own self-interests, we as the community could have removed out votes and placed it with others so they also are taking a risk and putting their necks on the line.
Yep, a lot of truth in there. Though, the Top 20 witnesses are primarily being decided by the 2 largest stake holders on here in Freedom and Blocktrades. Those are really the only votes they need to appease... which is part of what is wrong with the whole witness voting system. It should be something like 3-5 votes per account, not 30. Makes no sense unless they want someone with the most stake to control the chain...
Oh yeah totally agree the witness system is by no means full proof at this concentrated level of stake but that can only dilute over time and through inflation which won’t happen if their is a chain port in my opinion
I think sending out the message that a blockchain can be bought by someone with deep pockets sends a worse message than rhe we can freeze your stake!
While his funds and support would be great I don’t believe in selling our ideals for money but hey that’s just me and my hate for establishments
!ENGAGE 25
I actually disagree. That is pretty much the name of the game with POS (DPOS) blockchains. He who has the stake makes the rules. But, we could do a lot to decentralize things by simply limiting witness votes to 3-5 per account while still being a POS (DPOS) blockchain.
Last I heard no single account could make much difference in the witness standing.
When it is Freedom or Blocktrades it does. Even then, some of the OTHER votes those witnesses receive is likely happening because they are already within the top 20 and many just vote those that are already there.
how can we have better options for witnesses? I haven't adjusted mine since I joined :/
I forgot who did the research on this but I am fairly certain that you're mistaken regarding how much influence either of those accounts holds. If you search for it I'm sure you'll find something about the top witness picks etc.
@jrcornel you have received
25 ENGAGEfrom @chekohler!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
Totally agree. It's clear that the initial plan for Justin was to erase STEEM blockchain and move it entirely to Tron. Most probably because he simply didn't understand how STEEM operates - in his mind throwing $$$ gives him power to do whatever he wants. You can buy people but you can't buy community ;)
On the other side we're gonna see STEEM price falling now as no investor likes uncertainty.
I think he thought he could do things like he did with lino, but steem is an entirely different animal than lino...
Do you think he spent 10M without his devs due diligence? The rumors about buying emerged two months ago.
It's certainly possible. Judging by the confusing statements and contradiction going around on their part, they might not have fully understood what they were getting in to.
The interesting thing about "buying" is that a few months ago, as you mentioned, he could have bought a controlling stake in steem on the open markets for only slightly more than buying the tainted ninja mined stake.
Not sure it is the technical issues that are the problem. It is more that he thought that buying Steemit Inc gave him access to everything.
Could this have been something he overlooked? Highly possible. Guys who like to fly by the seat of their pants, which Sun appears to be, tend to not get caught up in the specifics.
Posted via Steemleo
So now he's stuck with Steemit. I hope he kills it finally.
All I know is that this current pissing match has got me wishing I hadn't bought Steem again a few weeks back. I have gotten screwed (in the long haul and short) every time I buy Steem...maybe I will finally learn, for me, its poison.
You are only 'screwed' if you lock in the loss. Depending on how things shake out, there is a decent chance steem is higher in the future again. Especially if there is another altseason.
As one who bought their first $1000 worth of Steem at $3, screwed is very appropriate. Steem is a screwing machine. I just feel stupid for wandering back into its clutches again.
Ah yes, that is a bit higher than current prices and a long ways to go from here. Fortunately (or unfortunately) had you bought any number of other altcoins at that same time, you likely would have seen similar returns, outside of a few rare out-performers.
@jrcornel,
It's hard to know where to begin. What you described in your post is the dictionary definition of EXTORTION.
If @justinsunsteemit decides to commence legal proceedings ... our vaunted witnesses are going to jail.
Quill
I asked the question as well about lawsuits on the announcement post. The answer seemed to be that Ned may have to worry but not the Top 20 witnesses... like you, I am not so sure. We will see I guess.
@jrcornel,
Delusional happytalk. I wonder at what point they'll conclude it a good idea to consult an attorney. Had I been privy to their conversations, that point would have been BEFORE taking hostage USD $10 million (the prevailing speculation) of the man's money.
Maybe I'm just old fashioned in my thinking. But you know who else tend to be old fashioned in their thinking ... judges.
Quill
I share your line of thinking... we shall see.