RE: Softfork 0.22.2: why I didn't apply the changes to my witness node.
Philosophically and spiritually I agree, but technically and practically, I do not.
I still support you and am glad to hear your point of view.
In my opinion if Justin bought 70 million Steem on the open market, we would all be stinking up our pants now as he would have the full ability and moral authority to do as he pleases (I'm sure a lot of people would have dumped at the price spike).
Also, if Mr. Ned was to sell 70 million Steem on the open market, the price would crash and we would just be really, really sad. The torch was sold/passed to a more interesting and seemingly capable person. I think he is a bit of a wise guy in the mafia sense, but I'm glad the witnesses won't kindly bend over and are also dealing with this is a mafia manner.
Justin played the first hand like an asshole new boss. Now he is being shown who is boss. He isn't Steem's owner. He is Steemit's owner. Until he understands this and is willing to act accordingly, we won't let him play with his toys in our playground.
...okay, but Steemit has a Steem holding and that, presumably, is now HIS Steem holding. That's what he bought, what he forked (no pun intended) real cash over for. And because the amount that he now controls doesn't sit well with those who make a decent earning churning out new Steem as a top 20 witness, they've decided to delete the power away from his holdings to ensure that they maintain that position.
This is akin to taking all the shareholder rights away from the top holder in a publicly traded company, rendering him/ her powerless in company decisions. The problem with that scenario is that those rights are a contractual/ legal obligation between the company and shareholder as a percent ownership, dictated by number of shares held in said company.
The question is: does this apply to ownership of the Steem blockchain as a percent ownership of the entire float of Steem, with regards to voting rights?
That, I assume, would be how outsiders perceive the situation to work, regardless of if that is or isn't backed by the law. Which is why I point out that even if this doesn't lead to lawsuits, it will likely ruin Steem's image (assuming it can be ruined more than it already has been) to any potential future speculators/ investors.
You are thinking of Steem as shareholder equity. Steem is probably not.
His Steem Power was practically nulled, the Steem is still there.
How does converting Steem to Steem Power change cryptocurrency to share holder equity from a legal perspective? It doesn't. Further anyone can buy or earn Steem and convert it to Steem Power without actually agreeing to anything. If I make you an account, there is no TOS. There is definitely no TOS to shitpost.
His ability to convert has been hampered, but he stated himself he has no immediate plans, he also didn't publically ask for anything to be done except a meeting on March 6. I'm sure he consulted lawyers. Maybe he ca wait until then to actually declare some sort of lawsuit. But I doubt he will.
Some of the witnesses are barely known others don't live antwhere that can be brought to US justice. Crypto is barely regulated.
A lawsuit would be an expensive mess that would destroy the value of Steem. It makes no sense and serves the interest of neither party and any competent judge would recognize this.
Hear hear