Steem Consensus Witness Statement : Hardfork 0.23 (Codename: New Steem)

Dear Steemians,

Many things have happened since February, and we believe that this is time to wrap up and move on. The Steem blockchain has been under constant attack from malicious accounts and this has heavily influenced user experience, Dapps useability, and the stability of the chain itself.


Note that 22.8888 was previously implemented as a temporary, reversible measure to resolve issues.

Unlike 22.2 (where now-hive witnesses froze Steem Inc. related accounts (total amount 65M SP, worth about 13 million USD) without any public discussion or notice), 22.8888 was different in two ways:

(1) pre-announcement was made so that community had time to discuss and affected accounts could make changes (for example, powerdown routes), and

(2) the reasons were based on what actually happened ("HIVE" chain split), while for 22.2 the reasons were based on something that did not happen (it was mere speculation like "it may happen" or "it is likely to happen", argued by some 22.2 witnesses)


Since 22.8888, we have observed even more negative actions, including (but not limited to)

(1) Intentionally undermining network stability by running different versions of the witness nodes and/or spamming malicious transactions (note that this can be solved by Hardfork as these transactions will now be ignored)

(2) Spamming meaningless or hostile post/replies, to displease Steem users and render the ecosystem unattractive for the existing user base and all potential new users, PO, and investors,

(3) Negatively and severely affecting the ecosystem by siphoning the rewards pool and using bots to automate the farm-and-dump on the chain without any care given to the PoB concept. The purpose of these malicious activities was to push users away from Steem by allocating part of the reward pool to their farming circles in the aim to highly lower the rewards that genuine authors are getting, engaging in heavy farming by recycling and posting stolen content to damage the SEO advantage that the community has built during the past 4 years, in addition to putting huge selling pressure on STEEM to keep people away from it by continuously dumping all the STEEM generated by the farming,

(4) Spreading FUD, rumors, and targeted disinformation, along with attacking, doxing, and publicly shaming users with different opinions.

Thus, witnesses have decided to make changes with HF to protect Steem network stability, enhance Steem user experience, and protect Steem community users' property rights. In particular, we expect Steem users may enjoy faster, more stable Steem blockchain as the issues of (1) will not be relevant.


We notify that there will be three changes:

I. Power-down period will be reduced to 4 weeks, instead of the current 13 weeks. This change is to promote more users to stake STEEM without fearing their assets locked up for a long period and to participate in Steem activities. By creating a more friendly environment for investors, we expect this change to positively enhance STEEM stakeholders' experience.

II. Update the documentation and other key related materials necessary to secure Steem, gain network stability, honor user experience, and ensure the proper functioning of the chain and projects that are built on top of if by providing accurate and up-to-date data.

III. Seize some user accounts that participated in criminal activities by actively contributing to the threat against the Steem blockchain and/or to the theft of STEEM holders' assets.

  1. The launch of HIVE chain is not a protocol update to improve blockchain performance or security, but a hostile split action to exclude certain accounts.
  2. Some of the previous main Steem witnesses (now most of them are HIVE main witnesses) put Steem blockchain at risk by threatening the stability of the Steem Blockchain while running a hostile Hardfork version on Steem, even though their main job as main witnesses was to protect and maintain the integrity of the Steem Blockchain. See Steem Consensus Witness Statement: Softfork 0.22.8888 for more details.
  3. Some HIVE launching members decided to take away HIVE tokens of 326 Steem users' HIVE tokens and placed it in the @steem.dao account (total amount of 83.2 million STEEM, about 23% of the total STEEM supply that worth around 16.6 million USD, as of 20th May 2020) that is de facto controlled by a small group. This is a clear violation of the property rights of STEEM holders, as these HIVE members illegally transferred assets of the Steem users that were assigned at the time of snapshot (code-copy chain split time). One may find these transfer records on Hiveblocks or Hiveblockexplorer, for example, one sample screenshot is provided below:

image.png

Ironically, the very reason that HIVE witnesses got their spots at the HIVE launch was the result of STEEM token holders' voting. And it is even more disturbing that many Steem users who got their assets stolen actually had voted for more than 5 HIVE witnesses (then Steem main witnesses), but these HIVE witnesses betrayed STEEM holders who voted for them.

Note that some HIVE witnesses use the misleading word "airdrop", but it is a mere copy-chain so "snapshot" is the proper one. If a chain is to start from scratch, "airdrop" is a proper term and the chain designers may choose whatever airdrop method. However, the HIVE case is a clear copy - HIVE copied everything of Steem blockchain, such as account names, passwords, previous postings, assets, etc. What they have done is taking other users' assets after the snapshot.

  • Also note that some HIVE users use another misleading concept like “there was no HIVE before the split, so no HIVE can be taken away from Steem users.” This is categorically inaccurate and misleading - how can you transfer something that does not exist? Their blockchain record clearly shows that HIVE, HBD, and Hive Power were transferred.

Hardfork Data:

  1. Date: 20th May 2020
  2. Time: 14:00 UTC
  3. Github Code: https://github.com/steemhardfork/steemhf/tree/hf0.23

However, witnesses understand that some Steem community members may have different views regarding specifics. We reiterate that witnesses respect the importance of the Steem community, encourage Steem community discussion sessions, and fully support Steem community decisions.

Proposals may be made via SPS so that any Steem community members may suggest potential exclusion of certain accounts that were affected by the HF.

More details will be posted soon.

Steem on.

Sort:  

TripleA team (includes the current witnesses @triple.aaa, @jayplay.witness, @the707, @skuld2000.wit, @segye.witness
@zzan.witnesses = @ayogom
They are fucking Moron
J.SUN's Puppet

like done before on Hive with steem.dao where my SP seems to be in also !!!

So where is the difference, the "old Gang" on Hive does it first and now wondering why they earn back the same from JS this is paying penalties for the first case from your side.

I´m not happy with a few of the people on the list but hey the all have a chance to talk to JS about, or better send in a proposal and pray that anybody will help them.

Remember the same was happening to many of us with Hive, and imagine what chance this proposal had when acting against the stake from the "old Gang"

It´s all about a few accounts who demand what´s happening on the Hive-chain !

False equivalence doesn't hold water.

Who exactly are you?
steemit inc?
a group of witnesses?

Here are witnesses on record as respecting the sanctity of private property:

TripleA team (includes the current witnesses @triple.aaa, @jayplay.witness, @the707, @skuld2000.wit, @segye.witness
@steemhunt
@zzan.witnesses
@steem-dragon
@hinomaru-jp
@future.witness

If they run this hardfork then consider their word unreliable.

There are many misdeeds alleged of varying severity and a group of accounts who are being punished equally via funds forfeiture. Even if these wallet holders are guilty, one-size-fits-all punishment is not the way just leaders behave.

TripleA team (includes the current witnesses @triple.aaa, @jayplay.witness, @the707, @skuld2000.wit, @segye.witness
@zzan.witnesses = @ayogom
They are fucking Moron
J.SUN's Puppet

This reads like the propaganda of a state actor.

Instances of authoritarianism never differ in kind, only degree. The masks they wear may change, but there is always an authoritarian sociopath trying to sell slavery with a candy coating. Sun is just bad at this.

Some top20 witnesses are not running the new hf version yet. They better hurry, otherwise they will be kicked out by the powers in charge.

I got an alert that the HF will remove steem from accounts when I logged on. People are going to leave this place like flies. if they lose their hard-earned Steem.

A blockchain that can and does seize funds is a worthless blockchain. The good news is the reduction of the power down time.

So, i now can confirm that the power down period still 13 week, so it was a lie, the sole intention of this fork was to remove some users tokens...

I's very good that Power-down period will be reduced to 4 weeks. I think it is absolutely the number one priority.

However, witnesses understand that some Steem community members may have different views regarding specifics. We reiterate that witnesses respect the importance of the Steem community, encourage Steem community discussion sessions, and fully support Steem community decisions

No. You really don't. The last fork was/is extremely unpopular. This one will be even more unpopular. Your actions have hurt the Steem community greatly causing the exodus of many apps and many members. You are doing this for your own selfish reasons because when you look at your actions, it is apparent that you are the exact same as the old witnesses. You should admit that and move on.

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