Steem Consensus Witness Statement : Softfork 0.22.8888

Dear Steemians,

After the recent chain split (ver. 0.23 Hardfork), the Steem Blockchain had been in major threat during the process coming directly from former Top witnesses of Steem. As top consensus witnesses, the duty and task would have been to maintain the integrity of the Steem Blockchain but it was decided to abandon the chain they promised to protect.

There were some opportunities to understand each between Steemit Inc and steem community members/investors but unfortunately, it didn't work well. The former witness group bought the domain for the fork after the day when a town hall meeting with representatives of each group gathered together on the 11th of March 2020 to discuss the shared value and find out solutions. The decision for a Hardfork from Steem had been prepared and made official on the 18th of March 2020.

The biggest threat that occurred to the Steem Blockchain was when the Hardfork was executed. Before the chain split still 50% of witnesses were running a hostile version 0.23 and were in the Top 20 of the Steem witness list. If that status had been kept that way, it could have resulted in breaking the Steem Blockchain, because these witnesses would not work anymore for the Steem Blockchain directly after the Hardfork. Shortly before the Hardfork, it needed a high effort from the Steem community to gather enough voting power to have at least 65% of witnesses running a non-hostile version and avoid breaking the Steem Blockchain.

As the history now shows, neutral witnesses from the now split Blockchain were technically able to run a non-hostile version and still support the Hardfork. This is not the case for witnesses that have executed a 0.23 version on the Steem Blockchain during the Hardfork.

To ensure the security of the Steem Blockchain, the consensus witnesses have updated to a temporary protocol. This so-called Softfork update is reversible but not limited to this version. We are using it to secure the Steem Blockchain but allowing affected accounts to appeal through the SPS system.

History Review based on facts

• 14th Feb. 2020 - TRON Foundation acquired Steemit Inc. Concerned voices from the community about tweets and postings that the Steem blockchain may migrate to Tron
• 23th Feb. 2020 - Previous witnesses execute Softfork 0.22.2 and limit Steemit Inc.'s stake as a proactive measurement for negotiation.
• 02nd Mar. 2020 - With the help of the exchange's stake, Steemit Inc. executes Softfork 0.22.5 to reverse 0.22.2 and place 20 witnesses of their own. Exchanges withdraw their votes shortly after.
• 02nd Mar.~18th. Mar. - Communications on several layers between different parties like witnesses, communities, Steemit Inc. and investors.
• 18th Mar. 2020 - Announcement of the Hardfork
• 20th Mar. 2020 - Chain split and Hardfork activated at 10 AM EST.

Softfork 0.22.8888

This temporary Softfork is to adjust and protect the future of the Steem community, which is in the moment still affected due to the Hardfork. Due to the uncertain threat that the leaders and main influencers of the new Hardfork represented to the Steem Blockchain, the Softwork will include accounts with the following rule. The barrier for these rules can be lowered at any time with a further code change when consensus is found and the circumstances require it.

Accounts actively contributed to the potential stoppage of the STEEM blockchain

• Accounts that proxied or directly voted to more than 10 witnesses running the version 0.23 on the Steem Blockchain during the Hardfork with an influence higher than two million Steempower.
• Accounts that ran the version 0.23 during the Hardfork on Steem and were still in the Top 20 rank, shortly before the Hardfork.
• Accounts directly associated with operating these accounts.

Affected accounts

• freedom
• pumpkin
• blocktrades
• gtg
• good-karma
• roelandp
• steempress
• darthknight

Github Code

• https://github.com/steem-witnesses/steem/tree/0.22.8888

Operations

• account_witness_proxy_operation
• account_witness_vote_operation
• update_proposal_votes_operation
• vote_operation
• withdraw_vesting_operation
• set_withdraw_vesting_route_operation
• transfer_operation
• limit_order_create_operation
• limit_order_create2_operation
• transfer_to_vesting_operation
• transfer_to_savings_operation
• escrow_transfer_operation

Background

The recent development showed that a major part of previous witnesses and also part of the community was concerned about the current stake situation to decide to fork a separate chain. During this process, the previous witnesses threatened the stability of the Steem Blockchain while running a hostile Hardfork version on Steem, still being Top witnesses. Additionally, they decided to implement a selective distribution of their forked chain, not only excluding the Steemit Inc. stake but also from normal users that proxied or voted on Steemit Inc.'s witnesses. These users mainly voted partly to Steemit Inc.'s witnesses and also for previous witnesses as part of a protest that they are not confirming the actions of the previous witnesses and keep the balance between the two parties, as it was encouraged from the previous witnesses.

Based on these hostile actions against Steem users with different opinions and also having different members from the forked Blockchain still actively downvoting and milking the Steem system, the consensus of Steem witnesses needed to temporarily adjust the accounts under the explained rules.

As for now, there is no clear declaration from the leadership or accounts of the forked Blockchain that it is not the goal to harm the Steem Blockchain and community.

Appeal of accounts

Affected accounts are welcome to look into a voting proposal on SPS and depending on how these are explained the community will vote on your proposal.

https://steemitwallet.com/proposals

The future of Steem

The current witness consensus is very young and learning at a very high pace. We have a differentiated mix of users, developers, investors and voices that are gathering together to move forward to develop the Steem Blockchain. A peaceful co-existence is not against the interest of the Steem community, but the current actions are not fulfilling these interests.

All rewards from this post are sent to @null.