You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Steem Budget Proposals Whitepaper!
'Proof of Stake' is not just 'proof of wallet' - it is proof of intent, effort, time and value.
Please substantiate this claim.
'Proof of Stake' is not just 'proof of wallet' - it is proof of intent, effort, time and value.
Please substantiate this claim.
In case you missed it, I addressed this issue to some extent in my post from a couple of weeks ago that suggests the beginnings of improvements to the witness voting system:
Enhancing Steem's 'Proof of Stake' Model Through Expiry/Renewal Of Witness Votes Based On Account Activity Levels (Revised Based on Community Feedback)
I received feedback from the CEO of Steemit Inc. congratulating me on these suggestions. As you will see in there, I clarify that 'stake' is not just money - but it is also the more human/social forms of energy that people bring to the table in life and in Steem. A simple way to see that this understanding is already built into Steem is to look at witness voting as it was designed and as it is today.
Steem is based on DPOS (delegated proof of stake) and so the delegation of responsibility for running steem is to be determined according to those who are chosen being able to demonstrate a proof of their own stake in the community. This is done by empowering others in the community who in turn prove their own stake - in the form of Steem Power and time/effort to choose who will represent them. One purpose of this is to ensure that the witnesses are here to help the community and not to exploit it - since not only does that secure the future of the community value of steemit/steem, but it also therefore secures the sustainability of Steem as a currency as we go in to the future and more and more competitors come along that can equal or better Steem's parameters as a currency.
Financial investment is one form of proof of stake, but given that that money will originate in a fiat system that is itself entirely based on fraud and that literally makes money from nothing (empirically and scientifically proven by Prof. Richard Werner) - it is necessary to ensure as best as can be done that more is involved than pure 'wallet power'. The process of choosing witnesses is done by vote and is intended to produce reliable witnesses (see the steem whitepaper). While it is possible for the entire process to be totally corrupted by whoever has the most money for malicious reasons (e.g. mark zuckerberg wanting to maliciously shut steem down) - it is at least a transparent process where all stake holders, large and small, can see the details and respond accordingly (perhaps by leaving the system) if they see that their own proven stake is being devalued by the intentions and efforts of the witnesses. Everyone who uses steemit has some stake, by definition, even on the financial level since they all hold some Steem Power. Witnesses are not voted simply because they have the largest wallets, the idea is that they are voted because they demonstrate intention, skill and value to the community that can be relied upon - this is evidenced by the fact that the system does not simply rank witnesses by who has the highest personal wallet. In a sense, the witnesses are staking their skills, time and effort - which could be substantial - which is proven by their success in running witness nodes and receiving votes.
In short, if we do not consider that stake is as much time, effort and intention as it is money - then no part of DPOS actually works. Money itself is actually only really a measure of action, time, effort and intention (albeit not the best form of measure of those things) - since all of these are required to be involved to some extent along the way in order to get money (even if you are making it from nothing!).