I just finished a few minutes ago listening to the conference between Justin Sun, some guy Roy Liu who seems to be some sort of his right hand, and a few Steem witnesses, large investors and developers, and finally understood what the whole Steem saga is all about, and thought I should share my thoughts on this one too.
The first thing that needs to be underlined in here is the fact that Ned sold us consciously. On paper he sold Steemit Inc, but actually when negotiating with Justin Sun he sold basically tons of STEEM tokens and the future of them, somehow the future of the Steem blockchain tied with them as well, and not just a company involved in the development and success of the Steem blockchain.
Justin Sun didn't had a clue on what he's bought from my understandings, after listening the whole hour long conference, and his only purpose was to make a quick buck in here. I guess the initial plan was to convince the community to accept him, lower the power down time frame to a few days, and then resort to buy the rumor, sell the news strategy. Being a public figure the price should, and really appreciated a bit after the announcement, and considering that he bought all the stake at less the market price he could easily get a 2x on his investment, in days, but he didn't because the plans didn't worked out well.
The community, and of course the witnesses reacted, and we all know what happened next, but did anyone knew exactly what the legal rights and attributions of Steemit Inc were, even years before this purchase took place. I doubt. People simply believed Ned blindly and created everything on pure speculations and verbal promises. Is there any legal papers that prove the stake held by Steemit Inc should be used for development and not personal use or against the Steem blockchain? I doubt...
One things is clear now and that is Sun's attitude towards his purchase. He just wants his money back and doesn't give a shit about developments and other childhood suppositions that some old veterans of the Steem blockchain had about his involvement with Steemit and Steem. It'a all about money, as I pointed out lots of times, and somehow he realized that his strategy didn't worket, and at least he should recover his initial investment by...powering down and dumping all on the market. That's why he's so desperate about making a less than a day power down period a reality, especially for Steemit stake.
That basically proves that everything was built on shaky ground right from the beginning. I mean, devs and witnesses should have known right from the beginning that this possibility might become a reality, of Steemit being sold, and everything can be radically changed when such a possibility becomes a reality. I guess they were too enthusiastic by the possibilities this project has/had, by the increasing price that it had registered over the years 2016 and 2017 and by the easy way the money can be made with it. Bad move, due diligence should have been on your side as well.
Basically there was no papers involved that would ensure that the ninja mined stake would forever be used as supposed and when we talk business we talk papers. I mean, not even Germans don't do business anymore on shaking hands. They did that in the 80's but not anymore. Some of the large stake holders and witnesses have created themselves good revenues from Steem and even good business. Lets not forget that bid bots were such a hype two years ago and those were money making machines. Again, due diligence before investing.
Another weird idea that I heard from Justin Sun was the power down reduced time frame only for exchanges. It's like he was saying: OK, I just realized that my strategy of fucking you up didn't worked, in my way of making a quick buck, so let me pay back CZ, who actually used illegally in my opinion people's funds, so I can finish this whole mascarada... Not fair mr. Sun and once again you prove not giving a fuck about Steem, community, and the future of both. Well, you actually proved that long time ago.
What I also find weird in this conference is too much please coming from important steemians, devs and witnesses. I don't see the purpose of the question: tell us please what you plan on doing with Steemit, with its stake, and if you are going to interfere with its governance? Isn't that clear already...?! He only cares about money, but he encountered some hiccups on the way of buying the rumor, selling the news. He doesn't want anything from Steem or Steemit, besides liquid STEEM, but you kind of locked it, and this way you kind of froze his investments, starting a war on the way.
Since he didn't bought it as a long time project, and you locked his liquid funds, the only option he had was to take his stake back through force and that's when CZ, Poloniex and Huobi, came in hand. Yes, he was a liar right from the beginning, but it's his stake after all, and the only one guilty for all the misunderstandings, manipulation and actually creating this situation is Ned. He should be asked for answers much more than Sun is. Steemit's stake should have been forked for long time ago, not a week ago.
The price that the community is paying right now, as a whole and not just witnesses, is trusting Ned for that long, without any legal papers being shown to back his promises, and only relying on blog posts on a blockchain. Yes, the blockchain might be immortal, but that doesn't count in court and we actually can't do anything against him. I know that we all expect good will and honesty from anyone, but sometimes legal actions are the best option for a safe future. The future of Steem right now, the way I see it, is not that safe anymore. Or at least, for the near future it will be quite shaken.
One last topic that left me mouth open was from... I don't even remember who, when that guy said to Sun to take his stake out but leaves us, and by us he actually referred to the witnesses, do our thing further and don't interfere anymore. If you believe that nine cents was bear market for STEEM wait and see the impact the dump of tens on millions of tokens will have on the price. One cent would be a lot for one STEEM...
My take is that the affairs with Steem and Steemit were created right from the beginning on shaky ground and know we just have to deal with the reality of large stakes waiting to be dumped on the market, after being bought legally from a sneaky and lying ex CEO of Steemit. There isn't quite a middle way. Justin Sun clearly says that he's only interested in making money and he just wanted to buy cheap and sell high, and we're now facing with the problem of freezing this guy's funds based on the idea that Ned injected years ago, that these tokens will be used for development and maintenance.
It's like two dogs fighting for one piece of meat, and my guess is that the one stronger will get the biggest slice, but in that fight everything might be broken in pieces. On one hand it is clear that Justin's tokens can't be locked forever, but on the other hand if he dumps them it's bye bye top 100 for STEEM on coinmarketcap, and that will impact the price long term. The only suitable option in my opinion is to have, if possible, a deal with Justin Sun for the tokens to be dumped gradually and not affect the price massively.
From there on, the blockchain can continue its decentralized journey and the guy at least takes his money back, after being screwed by Ned. Otherwise there will be a lot of blood on the streets. The only one to blame for the situation is Ned Scott who proved to be a coward and a liar. Still a lot of uncertainty around Steem and from my perspective Binance should answer legally for playing with people's funds. Lets not overlook this situation too easy. My hopes are for understanding from Justin Sun, if there is any, and for Steem to get away alive after all this.
Fingers crossed!
Thanks for attention,
Adrian