A couple thoughts on Bitshares as a token holder and voter on the Blockchain.

I support businesses building on top of the Bitshares blockchain including Arise, but to insinuate an Alliance is impossible.

Why is a a Bitshares/ Arise alliance impossible?

Well, Bitshares has an elected governance. It is strong, and there are some smart folks in there. There are no "parties", if you will, so currently the governance is very individualistic with no direction. Some "parties", I think, would give elected members a platform and other members with like-minded opinions strength, communion and solidity.

With that said, the elected governance would be wise not to hint at ANY collusion with projects. Bitshares and it's elected workers in my opinion MUST remain business neutral and work to provide a safe, functioning and growing blockchain for any individual/business building on the chain.

In conclusion, Bitshares blockchain has many things going for it like the Larimers, a beautiful exchange, multiple assets/gateways, a massively high transaction throughput (verify at https://blocktivity.info/), a working decentralized governance and businesses (RIGHT NOW) considering/ or currently building on the Bitshares blockchain. But what it does not have going for it is an ALLIANCE between the chain and "one particular company". That is not fair and it is out of the interest of every token holder in my opinion.

A few more thoughts I have yet to get answered:

Why is openledgers Prefix removed from it's assets? It's not fair for other gateways. Plus, the prefix UNDERLINES the trust that one puts into using a certain gateway. IT not there: 1) implies that it is actually BTC (when it is actually a issued asset) 2) AGAIN, implies collusion and preference for open assets.

Also, when is an exchange going to list multiple assets on multiple decentralized exchanges? I mean there is OX, Bitshares and many more in the works. A company could skip a lot of work and just simply host issued assets for their preferred assets on a multitude on DEcentralized Exchanges.

Lastly, It is great that we have the means of backing up our own wallet and all that jazz. As someone familiar with IT, it is easy for me to navigate the BTS exchange features. But there is something to say about the normies in the world who want to make an account, link an email, and if they lose access: contact support. That leads me to imply, a secured bitshares wallet hosting service with appropriate KYC/AML implementations would bring more exposure and accessibility. This doesn't have to be done by committee or workers. This can be done by a private enterprise. YOU! can provide this feature. IF you think this is a good idea, I would say make sure it is secure and honest!

I have come to believe that there is much more to Bitshares that meets the eye and I look forward to this coming year.