My Opinion on Steemit Inc.'s power down as a 50K SP holder: STINC can do whatever they want- Steem is immutable and permissible blockchain

I and family own more than 51.5K Steem Power. Though I have joined Steemit in 2.5 years back, I started serious investing in June, 2017. We have accumulated our stakes mostly through purchasing, delegation profit and few from blogging. Our average accumulation price of Steem is around 78 cents, which is 40 cents shy from current price of 38 cents.

First of all, all the stakes of Steemit is their own property, though they are instamined. They have right to do whatever they want to do with their stake: power down or sell to the market. Who ever bought Steem, they might already know or should know about this fact.

Before this threat of forking out, Steemit Inc. never showed any intention of power down. Only when at least few of the top witnesses, big stakeholders and community members have thought about it, they had a real concern about them being forked out. They decided to power down.

What will they do with powered down Steem, as an investor cum speculator we can only guess. They will probably put some Steem in exchanges. They will make few pseudo accounts in Steem blockchain to hide their stakes.

I would say, large stake of Steemit Inc will be out of sight which is good thing for Steem chain. People will not speculate on their Steem movement.

Now, question is that can they do anything malicious. It is a game of thorn issue. STINC has stopped for voting for witness. If they decide to go for a witness, they can vote with their anon account with large stake. Now, think as the power of those SP similar to stakes from several whales. Whales have their ulterior motivation to choose a witness. STINC will play their string as usual. Like it or hate it, it will be different dynamics. Some will argue that they are forced to power down. Now, the side effect is that they will be able manipulate to elect witness, if they chose to.

However, their action will also determine the price of Steem. In this anarchic market, if they act wisely, their wealth will rise. Vice versa, price can fall on their ill movement. The situation I can't find any difference from the current status-quo with 30 whales.

In fact, if they sell at current price (only fool will do that), then other actors will buy up and take their position. It will be widely distributed among many members at a lower price as a result. It is not that hard to understand.

Now, lots of Steemians hate STINC or @ned for their actions. We all can criticize them in public chain not in a secret cabal, that's power of DPOS. But we can't fork them out from a immutable and permissible blockchain that we preach.

Moreover, bear market and some missteps have provided many Steemitians to increase their stakes at low price. I myself have bought 20K Steem at 22 cents. Many have become orcas, dolphins, and minnows due to the premium price. Therefore, it is not all bleak for all of us. In long term, scenarios can be totally different from the current chaos.

The best thing that we can do is to keep talking with STINC to resolve our concerns. I would say, @ned is moving in right direction by attending radio shows with community leaders. He may have learned his lessons and willing to cooperate which is a very positive sign for the chain.

My personal view similar to @taskmaster4450 is that @ned is a visionary rather than executioner. He need somebody like Tim Cook to guide Steemit ship. I think @ned have understood it due to harsh lessons from bear market, partial coup and feedback from the community. I believe that we are in right direction though there is no path of roses without horns.