To dump or not to dump... will there be a pump?
SourceI think this is the question on many minds of those who have surfed the Steem waters for the past few years. Most of us on Hive (and Steem) can agree that up until recent events, all the moves made by Mr. JS have at the very least been rude, and obviously not in the best interest of the blockchain or it's community (hence the Hive fork). Strait up stealing $5-mil worth of Steem from 65 large stake accounts however is certainly well beyond rudeness, and actually constitutes a felony level crime in the United States and China alike. This unannounced "fork" to expropriate funds is nothing more than a digital assets heist, and calls for international charges of fraud, grand larceny, and embezzlement.
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In case you missed it - funds from this "secret fork" were funneled into an account called "community321", the owner of which was technically unknown (or at least "anonymous"), but obviously was JS & company. You would think someone trying to conduct a cold war on a blockchain and executing a huge complex digital asset heist would have the sense to change the keys to the account the Steem was being funneled into and keep them private, but this apparently was not the case. As someone, most likely an @anonsteem friend or also possibly someone in JS's inner circle that he shared the account keys with and did not approve of his greedy and ruthless tactics, changed the keys, re-seized the funds, and sent all the funds to Bittrex. Someone (maybe our hero) explained what happened and asked the exchange to send all the Steem back to their original owners. This so called "White Knight" is starting to be held in the ranks of Satoshi Nakamoto as a digital-economic savior with no identity. This hero's actions however does not reverse the actual theft crime that occurred here, a class action law suite is still being filed, and we may yet see international criminal charges come up from this as well.
Click here to see the message to Bittrex & start of class-action lawsuite
While our beloved @blocktrades was forced to stop accepting Steem due to the fact that the new fork code was not made public (announcment from @blocktrades), @steem-eng has now become the most popular choice for converting Steem to Hive (click here for trading instructions OR click here to go directly to Steem Engine).
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In response to all the controversy, and since Bittrex was unwillingly thrown in the middle of all this - Bittrex released a statement to the situation. Although their response had the necessary political angle speaking on sticking to the rules of the code and consensus, they also included tones of disapproval, which they stuck their neck out to deliver. They went onto sight that whoever is to claim these tokens, whether Bittrex were to follow the rule of code or not, must prove ownership of the tokens to re-claim them. Considering that this was a secret hardfork, the funneling account was anonymous, and the only people who have any valid claim to the tokens own the accounts the funds were stolen from, it seems there is a fairly good chance all that Steem will eventually find its way back to their owners... this however will likely be in the form of liquid Steem, and could also possibly end up being sent back on the Bittrex exchange (outside the platform).
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Whether JS or the original owners are "awarded" the Steem "in question", I think we are about to see the biggest dump we have even seen on this blockchain. If JS gets it, there is a chance he will continue on a more long term devious plan to further manipulate the Steem ecosystem, or he may just dump the entire amount. If the original owners get it back, I think its safe to assume that those folks will dump their restitution at light-speed considering they almost lost everything.
So Where Does This Leave Us?
When Hive was first released, Steem was valued at about a 25% markup over Hive, which made for some pretty sweet exchanges for those that were wise (and honorable) enough to swap over our liquid during this phase (props to @eco-alex on this). However, with JS and co being known for pump and dumps (& money laundering), I think many of us were waiting for his seemingly inevitable big Steem pump before we switched our coins over to the new chain for a better value. To our surprise however, it seems as if JS aimed to pump Hive first, as Huobi (a Chinese exchange that has association with the Tron Foundation) launched a contest that required ownership of large amounts of Hive-coin to enter, which incentivized bigger players to at least temporarily invest in Hive. This ultimately caused the first Hive spike to reach about $1 USD.
I cannot even begin to speculate why JS would pump Hive, especially before Steem. We may never know the motives behind this move, but I managed to move a decent amount of my liquid Hive into BTC during this spike, and then watched BTC spike when Hive dumped (its nice when you get lucky like that). The results of this move will fund most of my new album's production costs! - If all else fails, for this I am most grateful, and stoked I can boast a completely Hive funded album.
I anticipated that JS would pump Steem at some point after the price leveled back our with Hive, but I never expected him to pull the move that he did before this was to occur. He really screwed himself with this one, and once again, seemingly every time JS does something fiendish, he makes headlines, making Steem look bad, and Hive look good - all publicity is good publicity when it comes to our position in the situation, especially when you are a part of launching a brand new project that needs new investors.
Considering everything, what is the best move? - wait for the dust to settle and a possible JS Steem pump for a better value, or get out before your Steem is stolen too?!
I think if anything, JS did a great job instilling fear into all Steem holders - knowing that with just a simple unannounced change of code approved by sock puppet accounts controlled by one dictator, you too can have all your blog earnings you have saved for years be swept away into the hands of the emperor. Let's call it a tax-collection non-sense-us.
bomblapalapalop trademarkaJustnsontronbabyjesusRickyBobbyInc.
SourceHOWEVER!
If there is a real possibility of there still being some kind of Steem pump, it would be silly to not at least hold some of your Steem on an exchange, before converting it to hive at a less than 1:1 value - which would presently be the case.
My personal take on the situation however is that you would be better off temporarily investing your Steem earnings into almost any other popular crypto, than letting it sit on a platform who's ruler is destroying the kingdom it controls, while attempting to steal all its wealth - this emperor does have other kingdoms after all remember.
You may not be aware of this, but JS has also been targeting elder members of our @TribeSteemUp activist community (including myself) via downvotes from an account called "bullionstackers" (will not tag the acct). This account sees to it that all our posts made to the Steem blockchain gets reduced to ash (zero), and has now even went as far as to completely blacklist our community's founder and Steem early adopter @KennysKitchen.
Mentioning words like "Hive", "Abundance" (bc of our @TribeSteemUp Hive re-branded @Abundance.Tribe community), or saying anything they don't like about Tron, JS, or Steem on any of your blog posts, can get you on the B.S. downvote trail too (pun intended). They did however let my last two Steem posts go without a downvote, we will see if that trend continues after they are not so distracted by their failed theft attempt.
"He who shall not be named"
Image Source & Gif SourceAll this production of centralization, excessive retaliation, fear, theft, and censorship has certainly made Steem loose my vote (so to speak), which is unfortunate after so many wonderful experiences and connections made on that platform. I am just grateful we now have a real chance at doing things the right way on Hive, and setting an example to show people what true community can accomplish without the manipulation and control of oppressive forces like corporations, and non-consenting governmental regulations. What a blessing we have been given - its up to all of us now, so lets not forget that part. No one will make Hive great for us, we all have to show up together, and manifest the great destiny that we have been shown a path to achieve.
Are you going to dump your Steem into Hive now, wait for a Steem pump, or have a different plan? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I think another Hive pump is more likely than a Steem one.
P.S. - While I have read many discussions of a movie eventually being created surrounding these events, I think a community created documentary is much more likely. I want us to come together and create a way to organize some of the best videos published about all this, and mash-em-up. Then some real film crew people with professional equipment should do a tour and interview everyone they can that was part of this story... including all us powerful minnows that consistently publish stellar content!
Click here to hear my single: Shift the Focus on Soundcloud from my upcoming album: Power of Truth
Click here to hear my un-mastered sample of No Consent
My debut conscious Hip-Hop album The Hex Wrecker is completely free for download on Bandcamp & Soundcloud (click the links to go to my music on those platforms), or CLICK HERE for download instructions.
https://hive.blog/silvergoldstackers/@goldrooster/how-to-convert-steem-into-hive-in-your-hive-account
For the less technical people. (This is no advice just a help)
Thank you!
JS seems to have some very elite friends and very well could be the wolf in wolf skin to control the free-speech haven Steem. And now we are being targeted as well. I will take out my Steem as fast as possible.