I'm not saying I understand the reasons why @ned is powering down, but at the same time there is a part of the conversation many are failing to see. There is a possible silver lining to this whole thing, a positive side to his unannounced move.
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What am I talking about?
Many people who complain about Steem (even though they can't seem to leave) do so, because they believe that Steemit Inc has too much SP on their wallets. The idea being that this fact makes Steem a bit too centralized for it to be a real decentralized crypto.
The critique makes sense, there is even some evidence that the distribution was manipulated to be the way it is today. It's a researchable fact that in the days of the pre-mine, Steemit Inc's miners went down one night, and they simply restarted the whole blockchain as to secure more stake for themselves.
I'm sure there are logical reasons behind that move, but we can't argue against the fact that this alone made the community of cryptocurrencies look at Steem with a lot of skepticism. I won't name the biggest names out there who like to call Steem a scam, but google won't disappoint anyone on this subject.
Steemit Inc should become smaller
If Steem the blockchain is to survive. The more the Stake distribution evens out, the more it leaves those wallets and gets spread to more of its users, the healthier the whole ecosystem will be.
Does this mean that I'm arguing against the existence of whales? - Of course not. The idea is that the whales who run the tides, sort of speak, are not employees of Steemit Inc, but independent investors and developers. This would allow for a system that is governed by the people who participate of it and not by a centralized power, in this case a company.
Regarding Ned's Powerdown
I don't know exactly what to make of it. Honestly, I don't think he is getting ready to dump it all into bittrex. I don't say this because I know @ned or I think he's a good person. I don't know him. I'm simply being logical about the situation. Since he is the CEO of Steemit he would be fully aware of the panic he would cause if he starts dumping his Steem like crazy on to the exchanges.
The important question becomes. Why would @ned kill his cash cow? - I'm serious, if this blockchain, if this ecosystem has given him the liquidity to run the company, travel the world, take a selfie on a plane. Why would kill the cow? - You see, this is not about me thinking he is an altruistic mother thereso or something of the sort, quite the opposite. This is me thinking that even in his own selfish self interest, he simply would not make that move.
Here is my prediction...
Once Ned powers down enough, he is going to send liquid Steem to some weird account names no one has ever heard of. Those accounts will probably power up, some of it I'm sure will be sold too. And then... Nothing will change about anything.
I'm actually a little upset I don't have some fiat at the moment to snatch some cheap Steem. But, that's OK, I'm sure there are some out there that can, and that possibility is a good thing.
Until next time my friends