RE: "Better the Devils you know, than the Devil you don't" ... Migrating to a new blockchain
Presumably, Justin didn't drop USD $12 million for no reason.
He wanted a "crypto-based social media platform" on TRON to offset EOS' launch of Voice. And hence, the Steemit buyout announcement on Feb. 14, the very day of the long-awaited Voice Beta launch. Justin Sun was trying to steal Dan Larimer's thunder (and it worked).
But what good would buying the Steemit stake be without a plan to change the strategy that had resulted in STEEM/Steemit's stagnancy?
What could Sun possibly do that would be more effective (and cost-effective) in attracting new Steemit users than to ensure that ALL SP was used for curating content? And by all, I'm not just including the SP diverted into DApps but also the massive Steemit stake that has here-to-for not participated in curation.
Imagine that everyone now making $5.00 per post started making $20.00. Activity would skyrocket. Inactive users would become active. New users would sign up. STEEM held on exchanges would be converted to SP so as to increase earning potential (both from content creation and curation). The liquid STEEM supply would be thereby reduced. The ever-increasing money supply, caused by distributions from the Reward Pool, (price-deflationary) would now get absorbed by the increased productivity and increasing user base ... and the price of STEEM would go up. An increasing price would attract more users and investors ... a positive feedback loop.
Whether this occurred to an nominally independent STEEM/Steemit or one that had been merged into TRON would make little difference as the dynamics would remain the same.
The point is that if this happens, SP would no longer be available to fund DApp development ... and it is this, I'd proffer, that was the source of DApp developers' (and interested parties') fear and discontent. What would be good for content creators would not be good for them. And hence, the rather astonishing decision to freeze the Steemit stake in the SoftFork. Steemit bloggers weren't facing an existential crisis, DApp developers were.
Quill
Do you still think Justin's plan is to migrate steem users and steemit.com over to Tron? Or do you think recent develoments have him just wanting to dump as soon as possible and move on?
@jondoe,
Honestly, I haven't a clue.
@justinsunsteemit has a huge stake and he can't start dumping STEEM without causing the price to collapse ... which would hurt him more than anyone else.
If I were him, I'd maintain the status quo (re: Witness Votes) ... but I'd use the Steemit Inc. stake to start curating content on Steemit. That would generate cashflow (curation awards), materially increase post payouts (author awards) while diminishing the percentage of the Reward Pool being paid out to Whales, Witnesses & DApp developers.
There's nothing that would win the hearts and minds of regular Steemians faster than increasing their post payouts. If he were disciplined ... and only curated "quality content" ... it would also rapidly augment the reputation of the Steemit social media platform. The higher quality in Trending, combined with the increased post payouts, could very easily re-activate inactive users while attracting new ones. And this is what would be required to initiate a positive feedback loop.
P.S. Justin, on the off chance you read this comment, you need to hire a native anglophone to communicate with the community ... especially respecting a resolution to the current impasse. While I applaud your use of English, your linguistic skills (and those of your current non-anglophone spokespeople) are insufficient to communicate the required nuances.
Quill
I agree with all of this, but the question is will he? Nothing we have seen to date leads me to believe he has serious plans for steem or steemit. He doesn't do anything on here or really even mention it on his twitter. This might have been his plan initially (growing the ecosystem and creating value), but are you seeing any evidence that this is still his plan?
@jondoe,
At this point, who knows? My guess is that he's trying to let the dust settle, to let people cool down. At this point, if he posted, "Good Morning," there would those who would have a fit.
My guess is that there are private communications going on between him and some of the Whales/Witnesses. The more pragmatic of the Whales/Witnesses know that the status quo is not sustainable and that he's not just going to walk away from $10-12 million.
Quill
There is no evidence to suggest that Justin Sun knew anything about SP or Steem's problems with curation. In fact, his words indicated the opposite, a lack of understanding.