I think a lot of people who have invested money into the platform on the promise of SMTs will be upset. One of the disadvantages of a company that doesn't give quarterly statements and such is that this sort of thing can sneak up on you because the company doesn't have to tell you they're going broke or that they won't be able to fulfill their promises.
I think we're still in the "wait and see" stage to figure out what happens next. I wouldn't mind seeing a list of who still works at Steemit Inc and what their job functions are. From the looks of the latest Bridge test video (still not available for streaming on Steemit), they have Mr Mute still working for Steemit, so that should give you an idea of where things will be going moving forward.
It's not my company, so I can't tell them how to run things, but personally I think that a company that's supposed to be running this decentralized beacon to the world should be a bit more transparent regarding what their plan in to right the ship. They're still putting resources into Bridge, but SMTs which has been their proposed flagship product is (hopefully only) delayed. If they want to boost investor confidence, talk about the plan to get back on track.
Steemit Inc is extremely far from being broke. They're in possession of over $20 million worth of SP.
You're correct, "broke" was not the most accurate word for their situation. They do still have a lot of SP, but that's equity that they've been slowly selling off. The prices they've been getting have been less-than-ideal, especially recently. So while they still have large amounts of assets, they are likely in a lower cash situation. Thanks for allowing me to clarify.
It could just be that they're unwilling to sell too much SP at the current price level and banking on the price moving up next year. That would make a lot of fiscal sense. I don't know about business sense, though. I'm really looking forward to much more decentralized development.
I wouldn't blame them for not wanting to sell at current prices. When you know that a coin has been much higher, it's hard to want to sell now. But if that's what you need to do to pay the bills, you have to do it. Apparently Steemit Inc felt it was more important to lay the people off and push out their highly-touted SMTs than to continue powering down and selling at these prices. Unfortunately, that's likely to drop Steem's price further, even if the overall market recovers. It's too bad.
This could be a huge boost for Steem in the long-term. If Steemit Inc goes by the wayside, but other individuals and groups find a development niche, we could see things move ahead even more than if Steem continued to run things. Time will make things clearer.
It is going to be interesting to see the next steps but my speculation is that it is less over price and potentially something new has come to light that is either a threat or they can leverage.
Hmm do tell, I'd love to hear you speculate on that. I wouldn't say it hasn't crossed my mind either.
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