Thoughts
Since the announcement about the acquisition of Steemit, Inc I've written and subsequently scrapped three different multi-page posts about my thoughts on the situation. I know I should post something to the community but I have been struggling with what exactly I want to say.
I don't want to come out reassuring everyone that everything is going to be fine since I don't really know if that is the case. At the same time I don't want to spread doom and gloom since there is definitely the potential for this to be a very positive change for the platform and the community.
I should also note that I have no insider information or knowledge about the current situation or any future plans, so I'm dealing with the same set of publicly posted, and very conflicting, information as the rest of you.
The downside is that a new entity has taken ownership of a large and potentially controlling stake in the platform, and more importantly has significant control over what the name "Steem" represents. It is possible that the ultimate plan is to move everything over to the Tron blockchain, as was indicated in a number of publicly posted communications, and any attempt to do so would certainly be a serious issue for the future of the Steem platform as we know it.
On the other hand, Ned is no longer in control and in his place is an organization with significant resources and expertise in precisely the areas that Steemit, Inc has been severely lacking. If STEEM gets listed and integrated in all of the places that Tron is currently - from exchanges, to Samsung, to the Opera browser, and more - and if it can be marketed and promoted to a similar level, it can do absolute wonders for the price of the token and unlock a world of new possibilities and opportunities for the growth and development of the platform.
A number of people have asked me what they should do in response to the news, and to that the only thing I can say is that you should carefully consider the facts of the situation along with your own personal circumstances and do whatever makes the most sense for you.
As for me, I am going to continue building, promoting, and generally pushing for wider adoption of the Steem platform as I have been doing, and I will try to use whatever power or influence I may have to turn the Tron acquisition into as much of a positive development as possible.
No matter what may happen in the future, I am honored and extremely grateful to have been a part of this community and this experience with all of you.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. My feelings are similar. The outcome is a big question mark, with opportunity for major growth or destruction of this platform.
However, now that I think about it, the situation is a win-win. One possibility is that Sun helps market and grow Steem without trying to convert it to a Tron dApp. The other possibility is that Sun tries to make Steem a Tron dApp and the resiliency of the decentralized system is tested. If Steem can't survive such an attack, then it's best to know sooner rather than later.
I echo these feelings.
Plus, if Tron pushes for a merger & the Steem community forks, every plan I've heard includes taking that 75 million SteemIt stake & redistributing it. Whether it be to null for deflation, an airdrop to users who stay, a warchest for steemdao, or a little bit of all 3, I fully support taking that horrible weight off our shoulders & putting it to good use.
At the end of the day Justin Sun will move Tron over to Steem (not the other way around). Steem has better tech, a way better community and he doesn't control Steem but does control Tron so its the only way integration will work.
He is a businessman who has made a big investment. Once he sees that his new platform is way better than his old he won't be nostalgic - he will make the correct business decision.
Don't be surprised if he renames Steem as Tron and says he's moved Steem over to Tron but actually done the opposite.
Reading the first part of your post immediately made me think about what you ended on:
I would advise people to carefully digest any news Tron makes about a "Steem merger", and dig into the facts to find out which chain is migrating to what. For PR reasons, it may sound like Steem -> Tron, when in reality it's actually Tron -> Steem.
Exactly my thoughts.
I also believe that STEEMIT will go to TRON, and maybe even change its name.... TRONIT it could also be a nice name.
if it wasn't for your game and community built around it encouraging me to increase my crypto investment i would have likely left steem over a year ago(as it was the 1st thing that got me excited about investing in steem). i don't regret sticking around and im glad to have spent the time i have since then within the entirety of the steem community.
you were a major contributor to that and i can only hope this isn't the beginning of the end for steem as we knew it.
thank you yaba for all that you've brought to the steem ecosystem.
I want to see what is happening. I came back after leaving in disgust over management issues. This is an adventure for sure!
I am just hoping Justin actually sees the benefit of having Steem as a separate entity from Tron. Waiting to see how it all develops.
I appreciate your thoughts Matt.
I agree it’s super difficult to give any sort of analysis when really what we are doing is purely speculating.... but imo thats no different than any other time in the history of steem.
Of course we have no idea what the future holds here, but did we ever? It’s my position that literally anything is better than the direction we were going pre tron and the price of steem had been a crystal clear signal that this wasn’t working.
People often pointed to SMTS and Communities as a savior and as cool as I think those ideas are, as we know ideas are cheap and only execution matters. The truth is we have no idea what these two unproven features would do without a budget or marketing machine behind them but I suspect it would be... nothing.
To me Communites while great, just bring us up to par with any regular social media site and who knows what SMTS are going to be. Without a utility tokens are meaningless and likely a very small percentage will have any value.
My position has always been that the biggest and most existential mistake that Steemit inc made (with the caveat that this is circumstantial and i dont know all the details obviously ) was keeping funds in cryptocurrency which most people running a company would consider pretty reckless regardless of how bullish our opinions are on the crypto space.
This is getting long winded but really my point is that I think this is a net positive for steem because without this level of funding that tron can provide I feel like we were in big big trouble.
I’m cautiously bullish on the partnerships and like you, plan to support steem any way I can.
Hi @yabapmatt, I see you as one of the very few sane Witnesses we have.
It would be great if you could bring some balance to this situation through your commentary.
I also know you as possessing integrity and substantial communication skills.
Is there a chance that you could take a prominent role in the next conversation with Sun?
Yip. That pretty much sums up my way forward too. :)
BUIDL
Steem on and continue building addictive DApps like @steemmonsters
If anything it brings up any weakness people have in their own handling if things of things if it goes one way or another. It’s always good to let the wins ride and this could be a huge win. I found it alarming how many content creators never had a backup of their content when things were going down and where freaking out.
Always good to have backups and other plans in place if needed. Otherwise everything else should be busy as usual. Perhaps a new spring in many peoples steps if needed resources end up getting poured into projects as a result.
I feel like this was the first time many people realized that in a DPoS system, you're allowed to buy your way into lots of stake.
That's literally the whole point.