The events from the past 24 hours on Steem has made it even more clear to myself whey I hang around on Steem.
When I started my Steem journey in July 2016, it was all about blogging on another platform in addition to WordPress. I knew nothing about cryptocurrency, it was too risky for my investment portfolio, and still is, to be honest. Then I got involved in various community projects, the most notable one being @SteemitWorldMap. I met lots of fantastic people, many whom I've had the pleasure to meet off-chain.
Steem all time high
I remember in early 2018 I looked at my Steem wallet one day and noticed it had over USD20k in there. Shit!! That was just less than 18 months after I had joined Steem, and it was all from hanging around here, blogging and messing about (that's the best way I can put it as it's not like I'm working here). Steem had reached an all time high of over USD8.50 I didn't cash out and do a runner because I was interested to see where this was going. I had conditioned myself not to fall in love with my earnings . Also I'm in a fortunate position not to have to rely on Steem for my living. I left the USD20k in my Steem wallet
Steem tank
Since then the Steem price has gone south dropping to sub USD0.20. I have less than USD4k in my wallet now, a far cry from my USD20k two years ago, but still an impressive number for just hanging around, blogging and messing about. If I didn't cash out USD20k, I'm not going to be cashing out USD4k.
And that was the reason I why I'm still here on Steem. It's a social experiment for me, to explore and try new things and do stuff that isn't possible in real life., Steem is a fun place to hang around. There's a great community, there's love and banter, there's gossip and drama, and most important of all I can experience all this without leaving home. What's not to like about it?
Sun doesn't rule the world
Then things changed in the past 24 hours that made me even more determined to stay.
Those who read my blog may have seen my posts about the Hong Kong protest and our (Hong Kong) fight for democracy and freedom. When I learnt of the hostile attack by Tron yesterday, the first thing that sprang to mind was this is exactly the same as what the Chinese CCP government is doing to Hong Kong.
- Justin Sun from Tron is from China, grew up under the CCP Orwellian rule. The CCP rules Hong Kong after its handover from UK in 1997
- Hong Kong is small compared to China, but Hong Kong developed from nothing to one of the most modern cities in the world.
- Hong Kong's freedom is gradually being eroded under CCP authoritarian rule, therefore the people started to fight back by protesting
- From the beginning of the protests, the CCP has twisted the truth, calling the peaceful protesters rioters to give them a bad name
- Many of the peaceful protestors have been arrested so they can be silenced
Compare this to Sun's hostile over of Steem
- Sun acquired Steemit Inc on 14th Feb
- The Steem community was worried that Sun might take over the Steem blockchain, centralizing a decentralized platform.
- On 22 Feb the community initiated a soft fork which temporarily restricts Steemit Inc power until both sides have a better understanding of each others position. It was a safeguard to freeze power on the table so no one can touch it.
- On 2 March Sun hit back with a hostile takeover of the Steem blockchain. This is exactly what the community was worried he would do in the first place
- Steemit Inc downvoted many of the comments on their 2 March announcement post, effectively silencing people's voice
- Sun tweeted calling that the community's action from a malicious hacker.
Now can you see the similarities between CCP authoritarian rule of Hong Kong, and Sun's hostile takeover of Steem?
- both hail from a dictatorship background
- both think if you're big you can tramp over people
- neither can be trusted
- both silence opinions that they don't want to hear
- both twist the truth to make themselves look good
And that's the reason I am still here. I'm here to support Steem. Not Sun's Steem, but the community's Steem. Whatever form it may take, where ever it may go.
Sun doesn't rule the world, and he can't rule Steem.