For the past few days, after the new broke of Justin Sun acquiring Steemit Inc, we have hashed and rehashed the downside to all this.
The question is will we see some upside?
To answer this, of course, we are going to have to presume Sun is looking to maximize his investment in Steem. He is sitting on roughly 70 million tokens meaning a massive increase in value of this ecosystem could end up rivaling the value of his holding in Tron.
If this is the case, what is the benefit of a guy like Sun being involved with Steem?
Money
The most obvious starting point is the money he has. This guy is not poor nor are his projects running on a shoestring budget. If there is something that needs to be done, money does not stand in the way.
For the Steemit Inc team, this is going to be a departure from the norm. According to what was said the other day, the company never really left "survive" mode. Sure it added advertising to the website but that does not go very far. Overall, decisions were made, mostly, based upon the expense that came with said decisions.
This will not be the case with Sun. He is not going to worry about a few thousand dollars holding something up. Naturally, this does not mean there will be reckless spending. What it does mean is sound ideas will likely get funded.
It is something that takes on new meaning with the introduction of a couple make rollouts. With both Communities and SMTs being launched in the next couple months, the ability to throw money behind them is very appealing. It is imperative that the word get out about what these upgrades do for Steem and the entire cryptocurrency industry.
The resources are now available for that.
Marketing
This is something that was overlooked by the Steemit Inc team for obvious reasons. When operating on a tight budget, the marketing funds are usually the first to go. As just mentioned, with two major upgrades on the horizon, it was likely that not a lot of stir was going to come from marketing.
We now are looking at a different situation. It is ever more likely that a budget will be established for the marketing of these features. This will help the rollout and bring more eyes to Steem.
At the same time, Sun, by the way he behaves, is a marketing figure. He has large followings on social media and has a way of keeping his name out there. The lunch with Warren Buffett is a prime example. He is now known by many outside the cryptosphere for that.
If one of the things holding Steem back was the lack of attention it was receiving, this should no longer be the case.
Controversy
There is no doubt that Sun is a controversial figure. He elicits strong opinions. Many love him and think he is great; others call him a scammer and a farce.
In this way, he is similar to another controversial figure, Elon Musk. Perhaps this is by design since Sun many his money investing in Tesla stock (along with Bitcoin).
It is often frustrating to deal with these type of guys. They make things up as they go along, shooting from the hip if you will. Their timelines suck and are often off by a country mile. Thus, we have to dig through all they say to determine what is real versus exaggeration.
It doesn't matter whether a guy like Sun is pacifying his supporters or stirring the anger of his detractors. What is important is that both are paying attention.
A Face
Steem lost the known face when Dan Larimer left. He is now associated with EOS. This was coupled by the fact that Ned went into hiding, opting not to promote Steem nor Steemit Inc.
While success can come without a face, such as what happened with Linux, Steem is now tied to one of the "big names" in the world of cryptocurrency. Sun is up there in name recognition with Buterin, Larimer, and Hoskinson.
At the same time, tied to the marketing, Sun has no problem putting himself out there in the public eye. He is not a "behind the scenes" guy. Attention is something he appears to enjoy which will only draw more eyes to his projects. Steem is now one of those projects.
Quick Decisions
This came from the interview with @andrarchy and @exyle. One of the things Andrarchy said that was so important was that Sun was the type to take an idea and say "do it now". There was no waffling or wavering.
In an industry that can, at times, be fast paced with a lot of innovation, that is vital. Much of it might stem from having the resources to do what is required to back these decisions up. Whatever the reasoning, the fact that projects are going to starting moving is crucial.
Once again, the track record over the last few years seems to indicate that Steemit Inc operated in the reverse manner. Decisions took a long time to make and then, even when they were, it took forever to get started. Couple this with the constant shift in focus and it is easy to see why things were slow to get done.
It appears that the opposite will happen now with Sun involved.
As mentioned Sun is controversial and his acquisition of Steemit Inc falls into that category. However, if things do go right, there is a lot of potential upside for him being involved in Steem.
We will have to see how things unfold.
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Posted via Steemleo