Can a blockchain be sold?

yabapmatt (69) · 5 years ago

A blockchain can't be sold, but Steem isn't a blockchain, Steem is just a name, and a name is merely whatever the majority of people associate with it. That is ultimately what was sold here. The vast majority of people know what "Steem" is (both the blockchain and the token) through the lens of steemit.com and the various crypto exchanges on which the token is listed.

If they change the meaning of "STEEM" to mean the new Tron-based token, then that will be what Steem is, and the previous Steem blockchain will end up being known as something else (like Steem classic or whatever).

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dhimmel (65) · 5 years ago

Steem is just a name, and a name is merely whatever the majority of people associate with it. That is ultimately what was sold here.

Great point, but the name Steemit and not Steem was sold right? Unless Tron + Steemit make a juicy offer that minimized disruption to Steem users and DApps, I can't see a large portion of the community supporting migrating the name Steem to the TRON token.

Ultimately a bit disappointing that the announcement doesn't contain more details. I could easily see this being an escape hatch for Steemit Inc that hasn't really been thought out.

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yabapmatt (69) · 5 years ago

When steemit.com (and other apps) and all of the exchanges are referring to the new Tron token as "STEEM", then that's what everyone will know as Steem. So you're right that they didn't technically purchase any rights to the name Steem, but effectively they have purchased the name because they now control the means through which the vast majority of people interact with "Steem".

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dhimmel (65) · 5 years ago

I think exchanges will list both STEEM and STEEM-TRON. If the majority of the Steem community wants to continue using the Steem blockchain, then I think STEEM could retain sufficient value. Ultimately, the exchanges will call STEEM whatever token has more usage and value.

While I agree that a large portion of users use steemit.com to interact with the Steem blockchain, the majority of large investors already use alternative explorers like Steempeak, Busy, or even Splinterlands. So I don't think controling a single domain gives Steemit Inc that much leverage.

Anyways, I'm concerned. I think we need more details. If it seems that the migration is not in the best interest of the community, then we need to make that clear to exchanges and other economic players and infrastructure providers. If the migration is contentious, I think the name Steem will stay with whatever chain has the most value and usage.

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yabapmatt (69) · 5 years ago

I think the name Steem will stay with whatever chain has the most value and usage

I think this is a very naive view of how things work. My guess is that Justin is already very close with the key people at the major exchanges and has most likely already discussed this with them. There is no way he would make this acquisition, do the work of moving everything to Tron, and then have his token not be "STEEM".

The original "STEEM" will have to apply for a new listing on exchanges (which will be difficult since all of the exchange relationships left with steemit, inc) as Steem Classic or something like that.

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abh12345 (76) · 5 years ago

Hi Matt

Reading your comments today you don't sound too bullish about this news at all.

As one of the decent guys, I hope you can be a part of the talks that see something positive for the 'old' Steem community.

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dhimmel (65) · 5 years ago

These are all good points.

But ultimately exchanges will follow the community consensus and market value when determining what to list. Tron & Sun have enough resources to win a value battle in the short-term, but perhaps not in the long-term.

Migrating to STEEMTRON will take time and effort. Meanwhile, there will be demand to trade STEEM, which is already supported by exchanges with no extra effort. If there's considerable contention and splitting of market value between the chains, exchanges will list both with STEEM having a head start. I agree which chain retains the name "Steem" is more iffy.

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btcmillennial (63) · 5 years ago (edited)

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starkerz (65) · 5 years ago (edited)

Surely the weak link here is the guarantee that the steem devs will continue to develop communities and smts to their conclusion. If they are instructed by their new employer to cease development of these items on steem and instead immediately start implementing these features into tron, Steem becomes a dead chain over night (in conjunction with the moves with integrating steemit.com and changing out the token on the exchanges). The only thing we rely on now is vanderberg and the other steem devs having the balls to step down out of principle. and simultaneously, the steem community finding a way to pay these guys to finish the SMT and community work on Steem and not Tron.

We are basically dependent on the level of principle the key steemit inc members hold in their propensity to step down from their nicely paid new jobs and go it alone to finish the Steem blockchain dev work, or continue to work for Tron.

This issue MUST be solved before forking and it must be solved in order to protect the chain from future hostile take over attempts, regardless of whether this is a hostile take over or a win win.

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markkujantunen (74) · 5 years ago

Steem Jurassic

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jamesbrown (62) · 5 years ago

Steem Elastic

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abh12345 (76) · 5 years ago

!ENGAGE 25

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misterengagement (55) · 5 years ago

@markkujantunen you have received 25 ENGAGE from @abh12345!
View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.

^{This tip bot is powered by witness untersatz!}

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jarvie (70) · 5 years ago

Yeah if they take steem name with them and we don't want to go ... is it really that big of a loss? hahaha

We all hated the name steem anyway...

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yabapmatt (69) · 5 years ago

Well all the value of the token goes with the name, so yes it will be a big loss.

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jarvie (70) · 5 years ago

ALL? That's a big statement

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dhimmel (65) · 5 years ago

From Tron's medium post:

TRON and Steemit’s development teams will immediately begin working together to bring Steemit and other Steem blockchain based DApps to TRON blockchain

I found this to be an odd statement as ultimately its the DApps (and their users), not Steemit Inc, that decides what blockchain the DApp runs on. I don't think that buying Steemit will necessarily convince DApp operators and users to migrate blockchains, especially since that'll be a lot of work when the Steem blockchain is operating fine.

We are now in an odd position where the main company in the Steem ecosystem may now seek to the destroy the chain it created. I am hopeful and somewhat confident that the Steem ecosystem is decentralized enough to survive.

If Steemit Inc actually wants Steem users to migrate to TRON they will need to do the following:

pay them to convert their tokens / power to the TRON token
make migration straightforward

Not sure they'll be able to do either?

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vimukthi (72) · 5 years ago (edited)

Steemit was in need of funds and Tron was in need of an actual ecosystem with an actual community. Steemit Inc is also a very experienced team. Tron probably has a lot to gain from this purchase.

Together, TRON Foundation and Steemit Inc. will look to create further value for their users and to augment their advancements in decentralized technologies, including moving old STEEM token to a new TRON based STEEM token, giveaways to the existing TRX users with the new TRON based STEEM token, as well as a new accelerator program towards the developer community.
https://medium.com/@TronFoundation/steemit-joining-tron-ecosystem-6ad66584d0b

This is the unwise part IMO. Having focus on social media and gaming and not being general purpose makes STEEM much suited for scaling. Migrating to a general purpose blockchain just doesn't make a lot of sense.

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mahdiyari (67) · 5 years ago

but controls less than 50% of steem tokens.

You can't be sure about this statement!

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newageinv (70) · 5 years ago

My early thoughts are that there must be an incentive to current stakeholders to move and swap to a new blockchain which may be dilutive to our stakes. In the finance world, majority stakes have a premium.

Posted using Partiko iOS

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hedge-x (57) · 5 years ago

I would expect the value to go where ever Devs are building at. Tron has lots of user traction & resources depending upon the details of Sun plans.

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