They could agree to use the public bitshares chain if they'd have a spot or two as the comittee members and/or witnesses so that they have some control over the development and general direction.
I'm not saying it's good for us to have a company in the comittee, but the benefits could outweight the cons.
Right now it looks like a very bad idea to me, but it's worth discussing anyway.
There are already companies (directly or indirectly) in the committee. How is it different this time?
The difference is the familiarity with the community and the ecosystem. The fact that they were voted in, not forcibly pushed.
Anyway we might not have a choice. Binance will find some blockchain to migrate to. Then other exchanges will follow.
Every exchange will remain a separate business from us. And we will lose our edge.
At least if we apply and win we can benefit from new features they may develop.
If we don't we get nothing and only lose.
The other issue is that we are so confident we'll win, no one considers the bad publicity if we apply and lose.