STEEM: blockchain or soap opera? [ITA/ENG]
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English version in the footer
non so quanto siate aggiornati sulla situazione di Steem e dell'Hard Fork avvenuto ieri, ma cercherò di farvi un piccolo riassunto perchè una serie di avvenimenti come quello a cui il mondo delle blockchain ha dovuto assistere nelle ultime 72 ore non credo abbia precedenti.
Nel titolo ironizzo appunto su questo aspetto perchè ormai Steem più che una blockchain si candida a diventare una telenovela a tutti gli effetti, con colpi di scena che tengono gli spettatori con il fiato sospeso..
Ma facciamo un passo indietro di 3 giorni e vediamo la timeline degli avvenimenti che si sono succeduti.
**72 ORE FA..*
Si cominciano a diffondere voci su un imminente Hard Fork che interesserà la blockchain di Steem e che dovrebbe riguardare la sola riduzione del tempo di powerdown da 13 a 4 settimane. Però i timori che ci sia qualcos'altro di nascosto sono crescenti in quanto il codice dell'Hard Fork non viene reso noto.
Potete leggere di più sulla situazione in quel momento in questo mio post: R.I.P. Steem: a potential (and secret) Hard Fork is scheduled for tomorrow. [ITA/ENG]
**48 ORE FA..*
Le voci insistenti di un Hard Fork, il numero 23 per la blockchain di Steem, trovano conferma con la pubblicazione del codice su GitHub.
Una pubblicazione che precede l'Hard Fork di sole 24 ore, una cosa inusuale in quanto solitamente si concedono preavvisi più ampi al fine di assicurare che tutto funzioni alla perfezione e i witnesses, la community e gli exchange possano adeguarsi al cambiamento.
Viene confermata l'indiscrezione della riduzione del tempo di powerdown da 13 settimane a 4 settimane. *Ma come tutti temevano, c'è molto di più.
L'Hard Fork priverà i conti di molti elementi di spicco della blockchain di Steem dei loro fondi, che verranno inviati all'account @community321 creato con anonsteem qualche giorno prima e quasi sicuramente appartenente a Justin Sun e Steemit Inc. La motivazione di questo "furto" è la protezione della blockchain, ma la realtà è che si cerca di sottrarre i fondi a grossi stakeholders per evitare che possano effettuare il powerdown e affossare le quotazioni di steem.. e si va a punire chi è stato direttamente coinvolto nel precedente hard fork da cui è nata la blockchain di Hive.
Anche in questo caso, potete trovare informazioni al riguardo in questo mio post: In STEEM, chaos: could supporters of Hard Fork 23 face legal actions? [ITA/ENG]
**36 ORE FA..*
L'hard fork è imminente, c'è gran fermento nella community che nutre forti preoccupazioni per il furto dei token ai danni di membri rispettabili della community.
Questo infatti potrebbe gettare molte ombre non solo su Steem ma anche sulle blockchain che adottano il DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) poichè i fondi di nessun wallet sarebbero al sicuro e questa circostanza sembrerebbe dimostrarlo.
*Si diffondono appelli su Hive, su Steem e su Twitter.. e la voce si sparge.
Justin Sun prova a professare la sua estraneità e quella di Steemit Inc a questo Hard Fork anche se i fatti smentiscono categoricamente questa difesa. Molti witnesses finiti immediatamente tra i primi 20 grazie alla spinta del suo enorme potere di voto, sono stati creati meno di 24 ore prima e appoggeranno l'HF 23 sbugiardandolo pubblicamente. I witnesses che fino al giorno prima erano tra i primi 20 e che si rifiutano di supportare l'HF 23, vengono privati del suo voto e finiscono fuori dalle posizioni che contano.
**24 ORE FA..*
E' questione di pochi minuti e l'Hard Fork verrà implementato. Ammetto di aver seguito il momento con il fiato sospeso perchè ero convinto che qualcosa sarebbe andato storto... ma non potevo immaginare che sarebbe successo quello a cui tutti abbiamo assistito.
Infatti io pensavo a un crash della piattaforma, in quanto i witnesses che attualmente gestiscono la blockchain di Steem hanno dimostrato grosse lacune e una discreta incompetenza. *Ma è successo qualcosa di ancora più incredibile.
Come ho scritto prima, il codice dell'Hard Fork 23 prevedeva che i fondi sottratti a una lista di wallet predefinita andassero all'account @community321, creato con anonsteem qualche giorno prima e quasi sicuramente appartenente a Justin Sun e Steemit Inc.
Con un colpo di scena degno della migliore telenovela, questo account è stato hackerato qualche minuto prima dell'Hard Fork e i fondi sottratti ai wallet, non appena giunti su di esso, sono stati trasferiti a @bittrex con il memo:
*These are funds stolen by the Steem witnesses using HF23 May 20th 2020 - please return them to their original owners prior to the fork :)
Cioè questi fondi rubati dai witnesses tramite l'HF23 devono essere restituiti ai legittimi proprietari prima che l'HF glieli sottraesse.
Non è importante scoprire chi ha violato l'account @community321, la trovo una cosa di secondaria importanza in quanto alla fine sono convinto che tutti siamo quell'hacker perchè altro non ha fatto che esprimere la volontà di tutti noi, cioè preservare la proprietà privata e i wallet!
*Però devo ammettere che questa mossa è un autentico colpo di genio per svariati motivi.
Prima di tutto hackerare l'account su cui si prevedeva di mandare oltre 23 milioni di Steem pari a 5 milioni di dollari, ha messo in ridicolo Steemit Inc e Justin Sun, così esperti di blockchain da non capire l'importanza delle chiavi private e da non essere in grado di proteggerle. Usare anonsteem per creare un account (così importante per poi poter dichiarare di non essere coinvolti nell'Hard Fork) e non cambiare le chiavi private una volta creato l'account è stato un doppio sintomo di incompetenza e incoscienza che ha esposto il fianco a quello che poi realmente è successo.
E' un colpo di genio anche perchè in un colpo solo cancella una grossa ingiustizia lasciando l'incombenza di decidere la sorte di questi fondi a @bittrex, uno degli exchange più seri nel panorama delle criptovalute e che nel tempo si è dimostrato lontano dalle logiche di asservimento al potere o alle amicizie importanti come è accaduto per Huobi e Binance in occasione dell'HF 22.888
In ogni caso adesso i fondi sono bloccati e non sono finiti a Steemit Inc e Justin Sun.. e questa potrebbe essere considerata una piccola vittoria.
Come potrete leggere dai memo alle operazioni effettuate, questo Hacker/Robin Hood ha riscosso un plebiscito da parte di grossa parte della community:
https://steemd.com/@community321?page=2
Non solo... ha anche pubblicato un post diventato subito virale:
https://steempeak.com/justinsunsteemy/@community321/you-re-welcome
**E adesso?*
Adesso è tutto nelle mani di Bittrex che d'altronde aveva già espresso dubbi sulla legittimità di questo ultimo HF bloccando prelievi e depositi di Steem e prendendosi il tempo per valutare bene se supportarlo o meno (che suona come una misura molto più drastica, cioè eliminare Steem dai suoi scambi).
*La risposta di Bittrex non si è fatta attendere:
Yesterday Bittrex put out an announcement about the Steem network version 0.23 proposed hard fork. Our position on the hard fork remains the same - this is a contentious hard fork. We closed deposits and withdrawals of STEEM and SBD at approximately 21:00 PT on May 19, 2020, and we continue to carefully monitor the proposed hard fork. This morning, someone deposited 23,627,501 STEEM to the main Bittrex holding account. What happened during the hard fork and the allegation that the “community321” account was hacked outside of the Bittrex ecosystem are two separate issues. We cannot conflate these two issues.
First, because these funds were sent to our holding account without the proper identifying memo, we must review the facts of this transfer in order to return these funds to the original wallet owner provided the owner or owners of the wallet can prove the funds belong to them. In cases like this, if someone is claiming they are a victim of hacking, we ask for proof of ownership before we return the funds to the person or people who claim they were hacked.
Second, the implementation of the Steem network version 0.23 fork has understandably generated significant controversy. We wish the entire Steem community could have addressed legitimate concerns in a manner which was viewed as fair by everyone. While I am among those frustrated by the outcome, my own personal feelings do not matter. The fact is, we only interpret the data on the blockchain, and in this case, the consensus of the blockchain, regardless of how it was reached, agreed that the funds from those 64 accounts be moved to the “community321” account. We believe in the sanctity of blockchain, and as an industry, we need to adhere to the consensus rules of the blockchain without interjecting whatever our personal opinions might be. If we want blockchain to succeed, we must live by the rules of the blockchain.
(Source: https://bittrex.com/discover/response-to-the-steemit-situation)
E' una risposta che lascia lo spazio a molte interpretazioni perchè si parla di "volontà" di rispettare le regole e il consenso della community senza interferire, ma che sottolinea come sia di fondamentale importanza la circostanza di dimostrare la proprietà dei fondi prima di restituirli al proprietario O AI PROPRIETARI degli stessi.
Quest'ultima esternazione lascia aperto un grosso dubbio: Bittrex vorrebbe restituirli a @community321 o ai legittimi proprietari prima dell'hard fork (come richiesto da @community321 nel memo)?
Una posizione davvero scomoda per Bittrex che pure si è sempre tenuta alla larga da interventi diretti nelle decisioni e nelle logiche di funzionamento delle blockchain quotate nel suo exchange.
Il mistero s'infittisce.... e per dirla come se fosse davvero una telenovela:
*FINE DELLA TERZA PUNTATA
Carlo
**The English version is a translation of the original in Italian for information purposes only and it's translated by google translator due to lack of time*
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Hello everybody,
I don't know how up-to-date you are on the situation of Steem and the Hard Fork that happened yesterday, but I will try to give you a little summary because a series of events like the one that the blockchain world has had to witness in the last 72 hours I don't think it has any precedent.
In the title I make a joke about this because Steem is now more than a blockchain candidate to become a telenovela in every respect, with twists and turns that hold the audience with bated breath.
But let's take a step back three days and see the timeline of events that have occurred.
**72 HOURS AGO*
Rumors are starting to spread about an upcoming Hard Fork that will affect Steem's blockchain and that should only concern the reduction of powerdown time from 13 to 4 weeks. But fears that there's something else hidden are growing as the Hard Fork code is not disclosed.
You can read more about the situation at that moment in this post: R.I.P. Steem: a potential (and secret) Hard Fork is scheduled for tomorrow. [ITA/ENG]
**48 HOURS AGO*
The insistent rumors of a Hard Fork, number 23 for Steem's blockchain, are confirmed by the publication of the code on GitHub.
A publication that precedes the Hard Fork by just 24 hours, which is unusual as more notice is usually given to ensure that everything works perfectly and witnesses, the community and exchanges can adapt to the change.
The rumor of a reduction in powerdown time from 13 weeks to 4 weeks is confirmed. *But as everyone feared, there is much more.
The Hard Fork will deprive the accounts of many of Steem's blockchain's prominent items of their funds, which will be sent to the @community321 account created with anonsteem a few days earlier and almost certainly belonging to Justin Sun and Steemit Inc. The motivation of this "theft" is the protection of the blockchain, but the reality is that you try to steal the funds from big stakeholders to prevent them from making the powerdown and scuttling steem's quotes... and you go to punish those who were directly involved in the previous hard fork from which the Hive blockchain was born.
Also in this case, you can find information about it in this post: In STEEM, chaos: could supporters of Hard Fork 23 face legal actions? [ITA/ENG]
**36 HOURS AGO*
The hard fork is imminent, there is great ferment in the community that is worried about the theft of tokens against respectable members of the community.
This in fact could cast many shadows not only on Steem but also on the blockchain adopting the DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) as the funds of no wallet would be safe and this circumstance would seem to prove it.
*Appeals spread on Hive, Steem and Twitter... and the word gets around.
Justin Sun tries to profess his and Steemit Inc.'s strangeness to this Hard Fork even though the facts categorically deny this defense. Many witnesses who immediately finished in the top 20 thanks to the thrust of his enormous voting power, were created less than 24 hours earlier and will support HF 23 by lying publicly. Witnesses who until the day before were among the top 20 and who refuse to support HF 23, are deprived of their vote and end up outside the positions that matter.
**24 HOURS AGO*
It's only a matter of minutes and the Hard Fork will be implemented. I admit I followed the moment with bated breath because I was convinced that something would go wrong... but I could not imagine that what we all witnessed would happen.
In fact I was thinking of a platform crash, because the witnesses who currently manage Steem's blockchain have shown great shortcomings and a fair amount of incompetence. *But something even more incredible happened.
As I wrote before, the Hard Fork 23 code provided that the funds subtracted from a default wallet list should go to the @community321 account, created with anonsteem a few days before and almost certainly belonging to Justin Sun and Steemit Inc.
With a twist worthy of the best telenovela, this account was hacked a few minutes before the Hard Fork and the funds stolen from the wallets, as soon as they arrived on it, were transferred to @bittrex with the memo:
*These are funds stolen by the Steem witnesses using HF23 May 20th 2020 - please return them to their original owners prior to the fork :)
That is, these funds stolen by the witnesses through HF23 must be returned to their rightful owners before HF takes them away from them.
It's not important to find out who violated the @community321 account, I find it of secondary importance because in the end I'm convinced that we are all that hacker because it only expressed the will of all of us, that is to preserve private property and wallets!
*But I have to admit that this move is a stroke of genius for several reasons.
First of all, hacking the account to which it was expected to send over 23 million Steem equal to $5 million, has ridiculed Steemit Inc and Justin Sun, so expert in blockchain that they do not understand the importance of private keys and not be able to protect them. Using anonsteem to create an account (so important to then be able to claim not to be involved in the Hard Fork) and not changing the private keys once the account was created was a double symptom of incompetence and recklessness that exposed the side to what really happened.
It's a stroke of genius also because in a single stroke it erases a big injustice leaving the task of deciding the fate of these funds to @bittrex, one of the most serious exchange in the cryptocurrency panorama and that over time has proven to be far from the logic of enslavement to power or important friendships as it happened for Huobi and Binance at HF 22.888.
In any case, the funds are now blocked and have not gone to Steemit Inc and Justin Sun... and this could be considered a small victory.
As you can read from the memos to the operations carried out, this Hacker/Robin Hood has received a plebiscite from a large part of the community:
https://steemd.com/@community321?page=2
Not only that... he also posted a post that went viral right away:
https://steempeak.com/justinsunsteemy/@community321/you-re-welcome
**What about now?*
Now it's all in Bittrex's hands, who had already expressed doubts on the legitimacy of this last HF by blocking Steem's withdrawals and deposits and taking the time to evaluate well whether to support it or not (which sounds like a much more drastic measure, i.e. eliminating Steem from his exchanges).
*Bittrex's response was not long in coming:
Yesterday Bittrex put out an announcement about the Steem network version 0.23 proposed hard fork. Our position on the hard fork remains the same - this is a contentious hard fork. We closed deposits and withdrawals of STEEM and SBD at approximately 21:00 PT on May 19, 2020, and we continue to carefully monitor the proposed hard fork. This morning, someone deposited 23,627,501 STEEM to the main Bittrex holding account. What happened during the hard fork and the allegation that the “community321” account was hacked outside of the Bittrex ecosystem are two separate issues. We cannot conflate these two issues.
First, because these funds were sent to our holding account without the proper identifying memo, we must review the facts of this transfer in order to return these funds to the original wallet owner provided the owner or owners of the wallet can prove the funds belong to them. In cases like this, if someone is claiming they are a victim of hacking, we ask for proof of ownership before we return the funds to the person or people who claim they were hacked.
Second, the implementation of the Steem network version 0.23 fork has understandably generated significant controversy. We wish the entire Steem community could have addressed legitimate concerns in a manner which was viewed as fair by everyone. While I am among those frustrated by the outcome, my own personal feelings do not matter. The fact is, we only interpret the data on the blockchain, and in this case, the consensus of the blockchain, regardless of how it was reached, agreed that the funds from those 64 accounts be moved to the “community321” account. We believe in the sanctity of blockchain, and as an industry, we need to adhere to the consensus rules of the blockchain without interjecting whatever our personal opinions might be. If we want blockchain to succeed, we must live by the rules of the blockchain.
(Source: https://bittrex.com/discover/response-to-the-steemit-situation)
It is a response that leaves room for many interpretations because it speaks of a "willingness" to respect the rules and the consent of the community without interfering, but which emphasizes that it is of fundamental importance to demonstrate the ownership of the funds before returning them to the owner OR OWNERS of the same.
This last statement leaves a big doubt: Would Bittrex want to return them to @community321 or the rightful owners before the hard fork (as requested by @community321 in the memo)?
A very uncomfortable position for Bittrex, which has always stayed away from direct intervention in the decisions and operating logic of its exchange-listed blockchains.
The mystery deepens... and to say it as if it were really a telenovela:
*END OF EPISODE THREE
Carlo
