You act like this soft fork won't create problems for everyone on the site. If they are going to do that to the old steemit inc. stake, then they needed to do it to the freedom account. The reason they didn't is the fact that they all get witness votes from it, and it would weaken their hold on the witness position. If they truly did this for the sake of the site, why not step down after doing it. That is the only way to prove that it was not a move to solidify their positions as a top witness, and insure their massive paydays stayed. We should have a "term limits" of sort for the top witnesses otherwise they are never getting voted out, and will destroy the site. Who in their right mind would ever invest in steem again, if this is what could happen. As for the legal reason, I am going to say BS , but will look into it. I feel you guys are just throwing it out there to justify you decision with some disinformation. The fact that xrp has not been labeled a security yet, leads me to believe you are stretching the possibility of steem being labeled a security.