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RE: Q & A Regarding the Soft Fork, Tron and Witnesses
What specific statements were made by Ned or Steemit reps that are being characterized as a promise or contractual obligation to use the funds a particular way, and was an amount mentioned?
This is a quote from Dan Larimer.
"Our only advantage is information about how we intend to use the platform. The irony is that there are legal risks in sharing information about what we intend to do for a coin until after we have done it. That information could be interpreted as a promise that in turn would give the coin value derived from our future actions. So we didn't promise anything, but we still know what our plans are."
One very clear and specific statement from Ned, among many others mostly from Ned but also some from Dan, was that the ninjamined stake was all dedicated to developing the ecosystem. The statement was made in an interview widely viewed by cryptocurrency investors, so one can reasonably conclude that it was thus made in order to encourage such investors to invest. I know of at least one very large later investor who did carefully study these recorded interviews and statements in evaluating Steem before deciding to invest. That investor, along with everyone else, has every right to expect that the promises that were relied upon in making the investment will continue to be upheld.
Maybe Ned should have paid closer attention to Dan's warning that you quoted, but in fact he did not. (Though as an aside, one also ought to be extremely skeptical about "legal" theories coming from Dan, who later used similar theories to launch EOS, which was prosecuted and settled with the SEC.)
But, in truth, Ned knew perfectly well that his project and company would go nowhere unless he made these promises. People were not and are not going to sign up to put their own money (as well as time and effort) into giving something value where 80% of the money would then get sucked out by the founders dumping stake just to put money in the own pocket. So it was really the statements of Dan, not Ned, that were out of touch the the practical reality at the time, and with the actual practice.
There were many other statements that reinforced the model and intent, such as consideration at one point to transferring the stake to a non-profit foundation, a roadmap document that put forth a whole list of things the stake was going to be used to pay for (most of which, in fact, did not ever get done), etc., etc.
As a stakeholder, I support the decision of the witnesses to stop processing transactions and leave the stake in place until a better path forward can be worked out. Ned and Steemit used Steem and the ninja-mined stake as a manipulative game to mislead and deceive everyone else for their own enrichment for far too long. It was long past time for stakeholders to finally say, "No more!" Something like this should have been done long ago, and if it had been, less of the stakeholders' money would been unfairly and sneakily drained away. Still, better late than never.
Can you provide a link to the statement or the direct quote?
This isn't that easy to answer.
Larimer was trying to figure out how to raise funds in an ICO type scenario without any of the legal repercussions, thus the mining. The mining would have been a good idea if it had been fairly executed. The original Bitcoin Talk Forums post had incorrect instructions, preventing normal users from mining when the topic of the post was asking them to mine. When they figured it out, he reset the blockchain, deleting their work and giving himself even more of an advantage. That's how that stake came about and it set the tone for the future. That statement by him is the norm; create obscurity while personally profit. I don't know what took place between him and Ned when he left. That's some background and in relation to your quote.
For the sake of some brevity, let's look at the 2017 Roadmap for starters. In addition to it there are several good recordings but I can't go through them in the middle of the night right now when the rest of the house is asleep.
According to the roadmap, the fact that the stake was to be decentralized and put to use for promoting, developing and supporting the Steem blockchain. There was very little, in proportion of the amount of owned STEEM, investment in any of the ideas in that roadmap. In Sept 2018, when Steemit Inc had a few marketing staff members and with the community there was progress being made, suddenly the staff were let go and potential stopped. In around April/May 2019, Ned promised to move a significant portion of the stake to the Steem Foundation and while he eventually provided some money for incorporation, the remainder wasn't transferred. Those are two roadmapped applications that ended with virtually no transfer. However, it was still understood and maintained that the purpose of the stake is to be use for a communal good in the end once Steemit Inc got on its feet, which is why it was left alone.
I'll add more to my reply when I can actually open up videos and tell you where to start them unless someone else beats me to it.
(Also, I removed you from the Spaminator blacklist.)
I doubt a roadmap would be considered any sort of promise or contract, but let's say it was for the sake of argument. Here are the key phrases:
The term "not limited to" means they could spend the funds any way they like as long as it can be argued it's for the "promotion and development of the platform," but of course the fork is preventing them from spending the funds at all, and thus they are unable to fulfill this promise because of the fork, right? Do you have any direct quotes from Ned or a link to a video?