There have been a lot of developments in the Crypto Class Action since we submitted our original SPS proposal in Aug 2019, so we've updated it.
A lot of further work has been done on preparing the case including extensive affidavits of evidence.
We've also got a major law firm and team of barristers lined up, including one of the best legal minds in the country.
We realise now that the essential next step to unlocking the millions of dollars of institutional funding (from large scale litigation funders like IMF Bentham or Augusta) is to get detailed advice on prospects of success from a legal name that everyone will recognise and respect.
While we already have a legal advice, both formal and informal, from a range of sources all of which are positive about the case, it is clear that conservative financial institutions want a big name advice (because no one ever got fired for signing off funding when there was a big name advice).
We've also listened to feedback from some in the Steem community that didn't want SPS funding the legal and financial work of the JPB Liberty team. Apparently its OK for developers to earn a living from SPS proposals but not lawyers :-).
So we've now changed the proposal so 100% of funds will go on external legal fees.
@apshamilton is so committed to making this case move ahead that he's taken out a loan secured by his home to help pay the legal fees for the big barrister's advice.
So we're asking everyone to take another look at the Crypto Class Action SPS Proposal and vote for it.
With almost 8 Million SP supporting us are almost half way to the Return Proposal.
If you are interested in getting up to $6.00 for every Steem you held in early 2018 - vote for our proposal and sign up;
If you are interested in giving Steem and the Crypto industry a huge boost - vote for our proposal;
If you are interested in fighting back against internet censorship and privacy breaches - vote for our proposal;
If you are interested in investing in the Crypto Class Action you can buy SUFB tokens for a share of the total damages awarded on Steem Engine or Fundition (less than $500 only) or direct from JPB Liberty including via Paypal.
If you are wondering how badly Steem was affected by the Crypto Ad Ban then look at this extract from one of our many affidavits of evidence:
Extract of Affidavit sections re damage to Steem from Ad Ban
66. Every week Steem user @penguinpablo publishes a Weekly Steem Stats Report based on data taken directly from the Steem blockchain. His latest report can be found at: https://steempeak.com/steemit/@penguinpablo/weekly-steem-stats-report-monday-september-23-2019 This report includes a section on new account creation which shows very high levels of account creation (up to 55,000 per week) in the period in which Jerry Banfield’s campaigns were running and a very steep drop-off after the Crypto Ad Ban stopped these campaigns.
67. @penguinpablo’s report also shows a very high level (more than 4 time normal level) of Steem Power downs in the weeks after Facebook's Crypto Ad Ban was announced. A Steem Power down is a user converting their Steem Power back into liquid Steem. It allows them to move the Steem out of their account wallet to a cryptocurrency exchange in order to sell, but means they can’t vote with it anymore. These power downs are by far the largest ones in the the history of Steem. They represent an unprecedented and very substantial loss of engagement and confidence in the Steem platform in the weeks immediately after Facebook’s Crypto Ad Ban was announced.
68. Every day Steem user @arcange also publishes a Steem Statistics post based on data taken directly from the Steem blockchain. His latest report can be found at: https://steempeak.com/statistics/@arcange/steem-statistics-20190923-en This report includes a section (2) on monthly active users which shows a peak in January 2018, just prior to the Crypto Ad Ban, and a continual decline since.
69. On 29 January 2018, the day before the first Crypto Ad Ban was announced, Steem was in a very healthy state and was growing its user base very fast:
- a new daily record was set for number of new users added: 20,898 new users;
- the price of Steem was US$6.14;
- the market cap of Steem was over $1.5 Billion;
- the number of weekly posts (including comments) on the Steem blockchain was over 1.8 million;
- the number of active monthly users was over 195,000;
- the number of new users joining Steem weekly was over 45,000;
- see https://steempeak.com/steemit/@penguinpablo/daily-steem-stats-report-friday-january-26-2018 & https://steempeak.com/steemit/@penguinpablo/daily-steem-stats-report-january-30-record-20-898-new-users-yesterday
70. On 25 September 2019, after the Crypto Ad Ban on Steem advertising into the mainstream of social media users has been fully in place for over 15 months, Steem has suffered continual decline in all of the above metrics:
- the price of Steem is US$0.13;
- the market cap of Steem is $42 Million;
- the number of weekly posts (including comments) is around 220,000;
- the number of active monthly users is 58,000;
- the number of new users joining Steem weekly is around 2,500;
- see https://steempeak.com/steemit/@penguinpablo/daily-steem-stats-report-wednesday-september-25-2019
71. These declines are despite the extensive increase in functionality and usefulness of the Steem platform during this period.
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