The events of the last few days have reached a new level. However, while they moved to the point of rather humorous, it does provide some insight into what we can be looking at.
Steem was taken over by someone who was able to assert total control. Thus, we see a decentralized blockchain operating as a totalitarian state.
Naturally, many dispute whether Steem was decentralized or not and that is valid. Certainly, the fact that the Steemit Inc ninja-mined stake was under a single entity's control made it vulnerable.
Recently, Sun decided that draining wallets was a good idea. Of course, he used the "security" line to try and sell the concept. Thus, a hard fork was implemented that wiped out the holdings of 64 accounts.
What we see here is a page taken out of the government's playbook. How often have we hear of policy and laws implement in the name of "security". We see politicians pointing to the fact they need to protect the country from some kind of evil that exists. After all, there are malicious actors out there who seek to do peaceful people enormous harm.
The most recent hard fork on Steem was designed to defend the blockchain against those malicious ex-Steem Witness who are saying bad things and seek to destroy it.
If Sun can figure it out, bet the ranch that governments are clued into the power of controlling a blockchain is.
There is no doubt blockchain offers a number of benefits over the existing system. Sadly, like any technology, the results depend upon how it is used. When it is applied in nefarious ways, the end result is not of benefit to most.
Governments are now openly discussing the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency as their currency. The politicos all tout the benefits of it while also telling us how they will be able to go after the bad actors.
Of course, they will not require a hard fork to make changes to accounts. We can surmise from the fact that control is their goal, the ability to "censor" accounts will exist from the start.
Presently, the banking system stands between the government and accounts. While this might not be the most consoling thought in the world, it does keep the government at bay a bit. With their own "digital currency" this is not the case. The banking system would be cast aside, giving the government a direct like to anyone's money.
Politicians promoting this idea talk about easy distribution in times like these. Imagine, being able to directing send stimulus money into individual accounts in a matter of seconds. As we know that is a great benefit. Unfortunately, with the government, if they can send it directly in, they can also take it out.
We saw the blowback that Facebook received when they introduced the idea of the Libra. Politicians all over the world came out against the project. Many companies that signed on initially ended up pulling out over the pressure received that put their other businesses at risk.
Why was this response so swift and harsh?
The simple answer is because governments hate competition. Introducing the Libra put the governments of the world on notice of how easy it is for a monetary system to be implemented that could instantly have more users that anything else out there. Facebook has over 2 billion users on all its platforms. This would instantly create more wallets than there are individuals using the banking system.
Life under Zuckerberg is no more appealing to any clear thinker than it is under governments.
Companies like Facebook and Google are showing how easy it is for them to censor individuals. Adding in cryptocurrency only gives them the same ability but over financial matters. Want to do research on something that goes against what Facebook wants? Instantly, all transactions to that account are blocked.
Censorship, thievery, and control are all parts of a world run on centralized blockchains. Those who are power hungry and seek to control large numbers of people are the cancers of the world. At this point, their actions are becoming very obvious.
We just got a very loud lesson in that.
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