Everyone has been so negative around here lately, so it sucks I need to write this post but I would like to give my candid opinion on a few matters. I was recently called a "brown noser"... that is hilarious because that is and never has been the case as yet again evidenced by this post. I just prefer we all talk to each other decently while still allowing people to freely dissent. I do not like the direction the project is heading. I have been investing because I still believe in the underlying technology and Bytemaster, but there are apparent risks ahead of us and I feel less certain about the future of Bitshares than ever before.
Bitshares needs to start thinking about its customers every now and then rather than making all decisions purely based on its shareholders (more than half of which seemed OK with the stealth proposal as it is regardless.) That is a sure fire way to put a company out of business. Being that it is so early in the game, Bitshares needs to cater more to the consumer/customer rather than just to shareholders. IMO- the price has been falling forever, at this point screw the shareholders. The only chance of righting the ship is to cater to customers/consumers and grow the Bitshares brand before we are crushed by the competition.
Nushares/B&C Exchange is behind us as far as volume and market cap, but I think they are really gaining steam. They are positioning themselves to completely take over the original target market of Bitshares (a decentralized exchange.) B&C will allow the exchange of real assets (not derivatives), and Nubits is way more liquid than BitAssets. We technically have the better solution, but because of that better solution we have no liquidity, and because there's no liquidity no one uses it, and without anyone using bitassets Bitshares tokens will eventually end up useless.
Maybe Bytemaster already realizes this and is trying to pivot the direction of Bitshares (regarding stealth transactions and mutual aid societies). To pivot is certainly one option. A second option would be to simply copy Nushare's implementation and let Bitshares' customers choose in between the technologies by using the free market and letting it work itself out over time (IMO the second option should have been taken a year ago, but of course hindsight is 20/20.) Many cryptocurrencies borrow ideas from other cryptocurrencies, there is nothing to be ashamed about that... that is how opensourced ecosystems operate.
Dilute my shares as much as you want AND create as many FBAs as you need. Bitshares needs to stay ahead in this race or else it will quickly be left behind. Shareholders, be prepared to dilute like crazy and give up future profit sources in the short term in order to have a chance to not be crushed by the competition. Otherwise, we can all just wait to be crushed by the competition. Owning 1% of a billion dollar company is better than 99% of a million dollar company, and 1 million users spending 1 BTS on fees per transaction spend more on fees 1 thousand users spending 999 BTS on fees per transaction.
Short term greed (in the case of shareholders continually raising fees) and pride (in the case of dismissing Nushares' and B&C Exchanges' implementations) will kill this company like it has many companies before it. Stealth transfers and Mutual Aid Societies (although they will help) will not save this project. Both of those projects certainly need to be completed, but still more work needs to be done and I don't think many shareholders realize that.
I suggest we start with shamelessly admitting that Nushares/Nubits/B&C Exchange have a quality (albeit different) solution to the same problem, and that merging those solutions into Bitshares so they can exist in harmony with SmartCoins is advantageous for both shareholders and "customers". From there, let Bitshares' users/customers decide which implementations they prefer. I think we would still have an advantage if we can get both solutions (SmartCoins and Nushares' and B&Cs' implementations) working harmoniously. An advantage in exposure, market cap, and utility due to all our other features. Let's make sure we secure the decentralized exchange market before branching off too much.