The dust from the opening salvo of shots in the Steem-Tron war, is just beginning to settle, and we are left looking at the initial devastation caused by this tumultuous battle.
There are talks of a split, a new chain being created, perhaps a new name for another crypto token that will function like Steem, but on a new chain.
Let me just state for the record, that I believe a split in the Steem chain will be disastrous for us all. I think that will just create a load of losers, from @justinsunsteemit, to the witnesses, right down to me and you.
Everybody loses, nobody wins.
Lame.
Two Wrongs
It is clear that, as in so many disputes, both sides feel wronged, and just like in countless disagreements, the two parties have a point.
On the one side, the witnesses and whomever froze the Steemit account containing 65 million Steem, were wrong to do so. They did it because they feared what Justin might do, and that was wrong.
Justin, then somehow colluded with (as far as I'm aware) three different exchanges, to use customers' Steem, in order to power up and vote for Justin's witnesses. Even though this was in retaliation to the first wrongdoing, it was also wrong.
How To Move On
Clearly we need to move on from this, and the only way that I can see how is by the two wrongs being righted by the original perpetrators.
First the Witnesses need to unfreeze the Steemit account and give back the tokens that Justin has legally purchased.
Secondly, the exchanges need to power down, and remove their votes from Justin's witnesses.
Simple.
Until both of these criteria have been met, nothing can be done. Regardless of what the witnesses think Justin may or may not do with his stake, they cannot hold him to ransom by saying they want "assurances" before giving it back. That is tantamount to blackmail, and cannot be the basis for debate.
In turn, Justin has to prove that he is willing to act reasonably and back down from any witness voting with exchange funds.
Once these two things have been done, then the talks can begin.
The Sum Of All Futures
Perhaps we can move to a point whereby Justin's stake is part sold to the community, part sold privately, and maybe a new agreement in place regarding governance.
There could even be a future in which, as CEO of Steemit Inc. Justin drives the site, and therefore the currency, to greater and greater heights.
Or maybe Steemit will forever be destined to be a rudderless ship, a poisoned chalice that nobody wants to pick up, for fear of complicated politics and internal power struggles.
The one future that I'm personally hoping for, is one where the website Steemit still exists, and grows in relevancy, and functionality, whilst as time goes on continuing to be the flagship for the Steem currency.
I hope to see a future whereby the use case for Steem becomes stronger and stronger as the days, weeks, months, and years pass. More decentralised applications making use of Steem on many different levels, from fields as diverse as gaming, and banking.
All of these futures are at present under threat, hopefully both sides agree to step back from their current positions and start negotiations afresh, from a point of neutrality, not bothering to point fingers and cast blame, but to merely realise that they're ultimately both on the same side.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHOULD THE WITNESSES UNFREEZE THE STEEMIT ACCOUNT? SHOULD JUSTIN REMOVE HIS WITNESS ACCOUNTS? WILL STEEM SURVIVE IF NEITHER OF THESE THINGS HAPPEN?
AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!