RE: A=B, A=D, then B=D: so Blocktrades = Darthknight
I think these are some interesting points, however, both could be innocently explained, especially if D is a close acquaintance of B. D was probably making a speculative bet (not at all uncommon in crypto especially with talks of forks and acquisitions) and could have legal OTC deals with B.
'1. D definitely made his account before Justin's announcement. This is interesting.
- D seems to have had the timeline confused, maybe hinting that D had some speculative information, perhaps obtained from B. Justin and Ned signed an NDL so we will never know who was privy to the sale. Some were even approached by Ned about buying Steem.
- Tron and Justin Sun did have a few polls back in December and January strongly hinting at an interest in Steem. Large whales were probably aware something was up before the general public, they just have better resources and tend to swim together.
'2. A=B=D this theory is not nearly as interesting.
- D only made 1 open transaction in that account before the announcement, it may have been a speculative bet that the announcement would boost the price of Steem.
- Most of D's transactions came after Justin's announcement and from several different sources.
- When buying and selling massive amounts of Steem to gain liquidity multiple exchanges and OTC trades with large stakeholders are not uncommon.
- I'm not sure why it was directly sent to the exchange, perhaps that was part of their OTC agreement.
In any case, it is the business of D and B and other whales. Although interesting, it has nothing to do with his account being frozen on Steem.
It is also obvious that you discovered this information after 22.8888 was in place since it wasn't announced until after. This is very important when objectively considering your investigation.
Even if D = B, Justin Sun and Steem witnesses are intentionally running a code that specifically created to seize their assets. As far as I know, the excuse is to protect Steem Network Security (the real reason is to protect the price of Steem which is concerning). Two important facts are relevant:
- D is on power down which means his power is shrinking, this doesn't seem like the actions of someone who wants to take over Steem.
- There is a function to block witness voting from accounts. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if witness voting was a concern, only this function was necessary to use.
I'm trying to give you guys the benefit of the doubt here, but the actions of 22.8888 and this sudden witch hunt on B and D just don't add up unless the main reason is to protect the downward pressure of the price on Steem.
I appreciate your thoughtful reply. As @menerva already said, I also believe that you raised several issues that I need to think about.
I have not thought of OTC possibilities. While I still believe that the possibility is close to zero, it is still something that is worthy considering.
And for the 8888 part: I plan to write a separate article, but let me briefly write what I think:
It is not an attempt to protect the downward pressure on STEEM price - this softfork merely delays STEEMs from these accounts to be used before the further discussion/investigation to be done. As you pointed out, these STEEM may even get sold at higher prices. If we were to remove the downward pressure, we would have confiscated these accounts, like what HIVE did right after (or during) the "hardfork".
Revenge: again, not really. If it were to be a revenge, we would have included a lot more accounts like known spammers (xxxxxxxxxx), etc. And we would not have included more "neutral"/"conservative" accounts like roelandp.
Yeah, I have no idea.
I always like more discussion. I look forward to your more detailed explanation.
I'm following your investigation and trying to be objective. More information helps me make better investment decisions even if I disagree with some opinions and question some facts.
Thanks for the post. You have some valid points which I'll have to chew on.
One point: Your statement that the witnesses have done this to "protect the price of steem", however seems like an assertion as well. It could be true, but i dont think theres a hard evidence.
It's definitely an assertion. Actually, there are 3 reasons to do 22.8888
The only one I think is unnecessary is to protect the network. If they are able to get >50%, technically choosing witnesses is their right. Justin has accepted the freezing of funds and censorship on Steem post 22.8888 so he cannot exactly be opposed to whoever has a consensus doing it. However, it's extremely doubtful they could get close to this since they were unable to between 22.5 and 22.8888 and have started power downs.
Doing it for revenge is understandable, but petty.
Doing it to protect the price makes sense. In the long run, it actually doesn't hurt if the price decreases because it allows people to sell who want out and people to buy who want in. The price can go up later and Justin promised to use Tron resources to help develop in the meantime.
That said I hope their accounts are unfrozen soon, no matter how you look at things, it's their Steem to sell. It would be ironic if the price went up a lot in the meantime and this ended up making them a ton more money from HODLing.