Steem witnesses Soft Fork... Justin Sun responds.
Also in this edition there is news and updates about STEEM moving to #5 in the China Blockchain Ratings, Smooth resigning as a Witness, and how to get started on Hashkings.
And there are more additions to the Diary Dates section as well as regular updates on the Steem Foundation and the Steem Proposal System, another Featured Contest, and an expanded Community Watch with new communities to check out.
1. Steem witnesses Soft Fork... Justin Sun responds
At 10pm UTC on Sunday 23 February the majority of the Top 20 Consensus Witnesses implemented Soft Fork 0.22.2 on the Steem blockchain.
This was done to ensure the 70+ million SteemPower that Justin Sun bought 10 days ago from Ned Scott could not be used to vote for witnesses, and therefore, in effect, not be used to 'take over' the governance of the Steem blockchain.
The Soft Fork 'froze' the known Steemit Inc accounts - @misterdelegation, @steem, @steemit, @steemit2 and @steemitadmin - preventing them from a number of actions including voting on witnesses, proxying or powering down.
The soft fork is a reversible, non-permanent measure that the witnesses intend to reverse when Justin Sun has communicated a firm commitment that he does not intend to use the stake to vote for witnesses....
Six hours after the Soft Fork at 4am UTC on Monday Justin Sun issued an Open Letter to the Steem Community in response to the Soft Fork...
It is my plan now to make sure we begin communicating with the Steem community and make sure we are a positive force in making Steem and Steemit 2.0 great....
I want to make sure that together the team and community are a positive part of the communications that help to grow this ecosystem, and for that I would like to invite a group of our top 50 Witnesses to our first STEEMit 2.0 Town Hall, which we will hold tentatively on March 6th, 2020...
While the majority of the top witnesses supported the move and updated to v0.22.2, a small number most notably @timcliff as well as @blockbrothers did not.
This 'Soft Fork Debate' has caused a lot of large witness votes to be changed as can be seen on @arcange's witness table. The column on the far right shows what version each witness is running...
Many of the witnesses have posted their position on the soft fork including...
@someguy123 #6 - Soft Fork 0.22.2 released + Steem-in-a-box update
@therealwolf #8 - Wolf Witness Statement: Steem Protective Soft Fork 222
@timcliff #14 - My position on the soft fork - I am not running the changes on my witness node
@lukestokes #21 - What is property? Is it defined by consensus?
2. STEEM moves up to #5 in China Blockchain Rankings
@jrcornel reports that STEEM has moved up to #5 in the latest blockchain rankings from the China Center for Information Industry Development (CIID), an institute that works closely with the Chinese government to advise on policymaking in technology.
STEEM has always been in the top 10 in the rankings, once reaching as high as #2. TRON is now at number #2...
3. Smooth resigns as Witness
Long time Steemian, and long time Steem Witness @smooth has decided to step down from the role of Witness.
With the recent sale of Steemit Inc. to Justin Sun (Tron), it seems apparent that there will be new short- and long-term challenges facing witnesses, likely increasing the necessary level of time and commitment, which I would find very difficult to sustain...
4. How to get started with Hashkings
@hashkings, the Steem based cannabis farming game, has posted an introductory 'how to get started' guide...
Steem Proposal System update
The Steem Proposal System (SPS) today has a daily funding budget available of approximately 2648 SBD.
There are now 8 proposals receiving funding from the SPS - @yabapmatt (Steem Keychain), @netuoso (Vessel Desktop Wallet), @anyx (API infrastructure), @thecryptodrive (Power Down reduction), @thecryptodrive (SBD Potato Top Up), @howo (SMT testing), @steemonboarding (Steem Onboarding), and @thecryptodrive (anti - Power Down reduction).
These successful proposals are currently receiving a total of 797 SBD per day from the SPS...
The @steem-keychain project led by @yabapmatt and @aggroed that has been receiving funding from the SPS has posted a development update. Version 1.7 which includes localization has now been released...
Steem Foundation update
The Steem Foundation has issued a statement confirming it position in light of the recent sale of Steemit Inc to the Tron Foundation.
The Board looks forward to finding ways to work with the Tron Foundation in furthering our mission to the benefit of the Steem ecosystem.
Justin Sun has stated a desire to invest more into marketing Steem and supporting its growth and development. We're very interested in seeing this happen.
Our goal as an entity is as always to support the vision of the decentralized Steem Blockchain and its ecosystem. We are 100% committed to the Steem Community and its stability, autonomy, and prosperity...
The Steem Alliance Community Foundation @steemalliance have released the minutes of their last two meetings attended by @shadowspub, @phage93, @alexvan, @guiltyparties, @transisto, @aggroed and @inthenow...
Their next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 26 February 2020.
Community Watch
The new communities are still coming thick and fast. It only takes 3 STEEM and a few clicks and you are up and running.
@coruscate has make a video to show how easy it is...
There is still some confusion about where to post, resteeming and the role of Cross Posting (available on Steempeak).
A number of people have put out posts to help explain more including @eco-alex, @gadrian, @riverflows and @wiseagent...
A couple of the many new communities of interest that I spotted today were...
Contest of the Day
Worldbuilding Map Making Contest
Draw a map for a tabletop RPG. Prize pool of 50 STEEM & 10,000 WBT tokens to be won. Organised by @worldbuilder...
For a list of all the current contests on Steem check out this new list from @pennsif...
If you know of any current contests missing from the list leave a comment for @pennsif or message him on Discord @Pennsif#9921.
Dates for your Diary...
For a full list of Steem Meetups and Events...
If you are organising a Steem event or meetup check out the new funding support program from Fundition...
Tuesday 25 February - The Steeming Pile, Vimm.TV
@johnspalding's live streamed open broadcast 'The Steeming Pile' is back, with new co-host @pennsif...
The recording of the last edition of 'The Steeming Pile' is now available...
Wednesday 26 February - Steem Philippines Weekly Meetup
Meetings every Wednesday in Davao City organised by @chrisrice and @steem-ph...
Thursday 27 February - Adelaide Monthly Steem Meetup
Organised by @mattclarke, 6pm local time at The Jade Monkey, Flinders Street, Central Business District, Adelaide.
Saturday 29 February - Steem Meetup in Graz
Meetup in Graz, Austria. Organised by @reiseamateur
Sunday 1 March - SPUD #11
Steem Power Up Day #11. Organised by @streetstyle, sponsored by @xpilar and others...
Friday 6 March - SoCal Steem Meetup
For Steemians in Southern California. Organised by @socalsteemit at Taco Surf...
Saturday 25 April - SteemCampUK #3
Organised by @shanibeer and @lloyddavis in Leicester...
Friday 15 - Sunday 17 May - DTube Forum 2020
Organised by @hauptmann, @artakush, @greencross, @sergiomendes and @tibfox in Hamburg, Germany...
Saturday 20 June - Steem Canna Fest 2
Organised by @canna-curate in Portland, Oregon...
Tuesday 23 June - Sunday 28 June - The BLOCK Party, USA
The second annual BLOCK Party being organised by @enginewitty, @bluefinstudios and @dreemsteem. It has now been confirmed that the event will take place in Olcott, NY...
@bluefinstudios is also organising a Steem Summit at The BLOCK Party...
Friday 26 June - Sunday 28 June - JAHMFest2020, Jamaica
Organised by @donald.porter and the @ReggaeSteem team...
KEY DATA [ from CoinMarketCap & @arcange ]
| Steem price | US$ 0.214 | 24 Feb '20 4.58am UTC |
| CoinMarketCap Ranking | #76 | 24 Feb '20 4.58am UTC |
| FCAS Score | 755 / A | 24 Feb '20 4.58am UTC |
| SBD price | US$ 0.763 | 24 Feb '20 4.58am UTC |
| No. of Whales | 37 | 22 Feb '20 |
| No. of Orcas | 365 | 22 Feb '20 |
| No. of Dolphins | 2226 | 22 Feb '20 |
| No. of Minnows | 9301 | 22 Feb '20 |
| Alexa rank (steemit.com) | #14,661 | 23 Feb '20 9.30pm UTC |
| Unique visitors (steemit.com) | 217,740 / day | 23 Feb '20 9.30pm UTC |
| Page views (steemit.com) | 500,802 / day | 23 Feb '20 9.30pm UTC |
Follow @penguinpablo & @steem-data for more statistics.
This is #267 (23 Feb '20) of this daily news service.
[ graphics by @pennsif ]
"STEEM moves up to #5 in China Blockchain Rankings" but steemit.com domain is still blacklisted on the Great Wall of China (firewall)...
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Yeah that's very bad news. China Market doesn't exist for tech that threatens it's Iron Curtain sensibilities.
Refer "Made in China" episode of South Park
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Yes I had heard that.... - curious!
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Thanks for doing the news, Pennsif. I probably would have missed J-Sun's response otherwise. And also thank you for the contest shoutout!
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You are welcome. Hope it brings in some more entries. How are the numbers looking now?
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sorry for the delayed response. We are up to 4! :D
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That's progress. When is it closing?
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Today is the last day and we just had our 5th entry sneak by lol
I'm definitely happy with the turnout. Hopefully, March is even better. I think we'll do a Sci-Fi theme for March.
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A Sci-fi theme sounds good. Let me know when you have the announcement post and I will add it to the News and the Contest list.
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here is the announcement post for the contest in March.
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Dear @pennsif
I found response by Justin very mature and somehow reassuring. He clearly cares about communicating with our communities more than Ned ever did.
I wasn't aware that soft fork took place. Is freezing accounts of someone who invested and legaly purchased steem .. fully legal? I wonder.
Yours, Piotr
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That is an interesting legal question... I don't know the answer.
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Sometimes, approach such as the Softfork becomes necessary for a consensus to be reached. That actually spurred Justin to a prompt response.
Posted via Steemleo
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This summarized all those long post of soft forks perfectly. For some who doesn't have long attention span, this is helpful. Thanks pennsif!!
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Glad it is helpful.
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Congratulations @pennsif! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
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STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
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@pennsif, Definitely Soft Fork achieved some buzz and in my opinion this is effective step when there is no clarity about where things are moving nor it's addressed effective way in past. Now let's hope that after Town Hall so many things will be clear. Keep up the good work and stay blessed.
Posted using Partiko Android
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Even at that, I think that the Huge stakes should be put under control of usage to prevent the centralization of steem.
Posted via Steemleo
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In my opinion no one can control anyone's Stake because then there is no meaning of Blockchain. In my opinion Soft Fork is done due to specific reasons to protect our Blockchain as a whole until everything is clear about this TRON Partnership subject. In my opinion Town Hall Session will going to clear everything and then Reversal of Soft Fork will be done and then everything will be all set. Let's hope for the best and stay blessed.
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Yes, you said it right. It's all for our good.
Posted via Steemleo
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Yes. That sounds true. 👍
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Soft for is good for steem blockchain protection and justin sun response is also helpful
I think @smooth witnesses should not step down and at least he should wait for few weeks until some points get cleared
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Thanks for the news @pennsif
It seems like the decisive measures of the Witnesses that achieved a Super Majority and implemented Soft Fork 0.2.2.2 (or as I think of it 'the sporkoning') brought about exactly what they intended to do which was to simply protect the blockchain and initiate communications.
The sporkoning is upon us!
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