Let's take a step back for a minute and try to figure out where we really want to go from here...
Steem was gifted a great opportunity a few weeks ago when Justin Sun announced he had purchased Steemit.com and steemit,inc.
The opportunity was in the fact that Sun has vast resources in the form of exchange connections, marketing connections, loads of developers/engineers, and almost unlimited funds.
All things that steem is desperately in need of.
However, as we all know, things quickly went south for a whole host of reasons that I would rather not get into on this post.
The point that should be focused on in my opinion, is where we go from here.
Judging by the recent response from Justin this morning, it is becoming apparent that we are very quickly about to turn things into an all out war of an "us against them", if we are not already there.
In my opinion, that would be a very unfortunate path for us to take considering all the potential benefits that a steem and Justin Sun/Tron relationship could bring.
If things continue as they are, we are very likely going to see one of two things happen, we are either going to see a chain split where much of the original community goes one direction and then the Justin Sun lead steem/steemit goes another.
In that instance I feel both sides lose.
The original community will lose steemit.com as well as very likely many exchange listings. They will likely lose the steem name as well. They will succeed in having their own community with their own witnesses but with few exchange listings and not a lot of financial resources.
The Justin Sun lead steem will lose out on one of the largest communities in all of crypto, which we are finding out is not as easy to replace as originally thought. However, he will likely get his coin numerous exchange listings as well as marketing and media attention in order to make sure it is known about.
Both sides will have their negatives and positives, but overall I feel like both sides would be better off if we could find a middle ground where we continue as one chain with the financial backing and resources of a Justin Sun and Tron.
How does that happen at this point?
That is the million dollar question.
The sticking point for the current community and witnesses seems to be that the steem Justin acquired should not be allowed to vote or allowed to be sold. Basically, they want that steem to be earmarked strictly for the development of steemit/steem.
That is all well and good, but may be unrealistic at this point.
For one, the guy paid $10 million for it.
I find it highly unlikely he is going to be ok with losing out on $10 million in order to honor some statements/promises made by the prior owners.
Which by the way is likely not legally binding anyways. Steemit,inc said they would use that steem for steemit/steem development, but what happens if they changed their mind? There were no contracts and lawyers involved, it was simply a company's intention and intentions can and do change all the time.
So, while it would be nice if that is what the funds were used for, it may not be legally binding and it may not be realistic to expect that they will be at this point
Given that... we need to figure out how to move forward with some kind of compromise with how that stake can best be used.
An example would be getting some kind of agreement that the stake cannot be sold on the open market for X amount of time, or that the stake can only be used to vote in a max of 10 witnesses etc... something where Justin doesn't have to worry about his stake being frozen again, but while also still keeping the chain at least somewhat decentralized.
While we are on that note, it's not like the chain was extraordinarily decentralized in the first place, it was and always has been basically the largest handful of accounts deciding the top 20 witnesses selections.
Once we can come to some agreements on that stake, and I mean win wins for both sides, perhaps we can then go about trying to do things that will benefit both parties and all of steem as a whole.
For now though, I know it is fun to jump on the bandwagon and go on the warpath but we need to remember to step back and keep in mind what the ultimate win win is for both sides.
It's not likely that Justin is just going to agree to turn over his stake, and it's also not in our interest to see steem run by one person or entity...
I think the longer these heated exchanges and name calling etc go on, the less likely we are to ever come to any kind of win win.
The time is now to sit down and work some things out.
Justin needs to hear some input from voices of reason on how things work on here and why they are the way they are. Judging by some of his comments lately, he truly doesn't understand how all of this works. We shouldn't bash him for that though, we should seek to educate him.
TLDR:
We need to figure out a win win for both sides, and it likely means we are going to have to make a compromise on that steemit,inc stake. He will need to make one too.
Stay informed my friends.
-Doc
There is a meeting between Sun's representative, Ron, and the Witnesses at 6 PM EST.
So discussions are taking place.
Posted via Steemleo
I just hope it is nothing like the last one. I know emotions are involved, but it was way too hostile on our end for anything meaningful to get done.
Can it be joined or listened to anywhere?
How and where is the meeting taking place?
Roy Liu (Head Of Business & Corporate Development for Tron) came on MSP Waves today and scheduled a meeting with @aggroed and other witnesses for 3PM PST on Zoom. I'm sure aggroed will have a report on it later tonight.
Ok, thanks.
Here is the audio of Roy Liu meeting on Zoom with Steem witnesses yesterday 3/5/20.
Is this a private meeting? Or is this a meeting where people can also listen in and not necessarily chime in.
That’s a very well written balanced approach. Good to see some common sense around here.
Yes, that does seem to be lacking as of late. Emotions running high around here.
Agreed, a win win needs to be found.
Yep.
Compromise idea: Witnesses promise Justin to not freeze Steemit's stake any more, and help the exchanges to power down quickly, Justin removes Witness votes and commits to use funds partly to develop Steem and to not vote Witnesses, SPS or content. Win-win for both sides.
We need to find a consensual middle ground. This will be the optimal solution.
Posted using Partiko Android
Yep, for sure.
There does not appear to be a win-win option with Mr. Sun any more. Without de-fanging him of the Ninja Stake he will only return to his hostile take over from a different angle. As one that was against 22.2's deployment, we seem way past that now and it is a case of survival. At this point he needs to be @nulled out of existence in my opinion. We have gone to war and the chain's trust has already been broken so philosophical points of ownership need no longer apply.
And you say that based on what? No one has proposed much of a negotiation with him outside of taking away his stake... and that's not really negotiating. That's I win and you lose.
The witnesses installed 22.2 which only froze the stake while agreeing to a meeting on March 6th. That date was asked for by Mr. Sun. In hindsight (although my suspicions were active at the time) he was biding time to get his failed coup in place with the fraud of using the STEEM of unsuspecting clients of 3 exchanges. So he cannot be trusted or else he would have waited until March 6th meet up to decide to make such a move.
He cannot be trusted, Pull the @null lever and lets get this unfortunate situation behind us and let him sue @ned.
It wasn't a coupe, it was him doing what he had to in order to get access to his stake back. It was all reactionary. He literally didn't have many other choices. I don't support what he did, but I for sure understand it.
He has proven to be untrustworthy. We must do what must be done. De-Fange him. He is a threat that must be removed. We have no face to save as 22.2 did away with that. It was like pointing a gun at someone and now we are afraid to pull the trigger? Get on with it and pull the @null lever.
P.S. His reasoning does not concern me. We are past that.
It's attitudes like that which produce lose lose outcomes. I don't think we are there just yet.
If he is not de-fanged then we are definitely going to loose. There is not going to be any kumbia moment. If we do not @null the ninja tokens then we are going to end up with a fork and that will be worse than any fall out from @nulling Mr. Sun. Business is not a weak person's game. Cap him asap.
Since the beginning of this hassle, this is the first well written post i am seeing. Someone looking at it from both side and not being biased.