In the BlockPay channel in Telegram,
( https://web.telegram.org/#/im?p=@blockpay )
yesterday's messages, I was participating in a conversation about bitshares-munich
Here it is:
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Lukas Fiedler:
Can someone give me a quick update/rundown?
Once Uponatime:
There is little information coming from the Company itself, just many "no comments" apparently based on legal advice.*
From the outside it would appear that there is an ongoing hostile takeover attempt of tthe company Kencode founded and is still the principal shareholder of (51%) by an entrenched management that does not share his agorist Vision for bringing freedom to the world through free market solutions.
The entrenched management appears to have cut off the company founder and lead developer's pay and the funding to continue his work and pay the coders that he has trained and contracted with to develop the products.. They may be thinking that they would be able to get complete control of all his work for a pittance because he had rent to pay and a family to feed.
In addition I have heard that they want to force him into "non-compete" agreements (because the entrenched management has little technical skills themselves) in order for him to get even the pittance needed for his family. This despite the fact that Kencode has always made the code open source and anyone can take it and use or develop it further.
I stepped in and am funding Ken to whatever level ends up being required to put a stop to this apparent travesty and outrageous violation of the non-aggression principal. The NAP is at the heart of the Vision of the Founders of Bitshares, but apparently a disposable value not shared by later investors and marketers who now seek control before they market Ken's products world wide and cash in on a gravy train.
μια φορά κι έναν καιρό
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So, starting today, I am going to post a series of articles and documentation
with background information and opinion on the apparent difficulties within Bitshares-Munich. This will be with a view to educate the community which might possibly then come up with suggestions to help resolve problems so that we can all move forward.
When I first heard of these difficulties, over a month ago,
I asked @stan of Cryptonomex (godfather of graphene technology) if he would be willing to moderate a conference call between conflicting parties. He agreed that, although he would in no way be a mediator or judge, he would host a conference call and try to keep it calm and on track. So I then sent the followingn e-mail to the parties involved:
Dear @Xeroc and @chris4210:
(with cc to Stan and Ken)
I hope that you both remember me from Steemfest and Bits n' Pretzels. It was a real pleasure meeting both of you! And I well remember receiving some gracious help from each of you!
I don't know if you are aware of this, but I was the earliest (financial and moral) supporter of @Kencode's initiatives from even before Bitshares-Munich existed. Although I know he can sometimes have somewhat of an abrasive/no-nonsense personality and also somewhat of a quick-to-trigger temper, I like and respect him very much - as I do the both of you. I am therefore saddened to now find out that there are differences between you that are causing acrimony and blockage in the future development plan for Bitshares-Munich.
I think that because I was Ken's very first investor he has felt it appropriate to advise me of some of the difficulty - at least from his perspective. I certainly haven't heard your perspectives. I am most concerned that positions seem to be hardening and open communication failing. This concerns me as both a major BlockPay token holder and a major Bitshares holder. Word going public of any schism in Bitshares-Munich would be disastrous to the market caps of both!
I have absolutely no doubt that each of the parties is honestly trying to do what is best from his own perspective. But now that there is a lack of communication and positions are becoming hardened, we need a new way to sort things out.
To this end, I talked with Stan Larimer a few hours ago and asked him if he would moderate a conference call between the four of us (Ken, me, Chris and Fabian). Stan said that in no way would he be willing to either arbitrate or make any judgement - but that he is willing to act as a peacemaker to keep the discussions rational and calm.
I suggested Zoom for the conference call, but Stan was unfamiliar with that. He suggested that @Xeroc uses some conference format, he wasn't sure what. So I said that I would ask Xeroc to choose the technology for the conference call and set it with Stan and the principals.
I am in Greece and going for surgery in Athens on Friday and may be out of commission for a while after that. So I am hoping that this could be accomplished by Thursday! (And that would most certainly be best for all the graphene worlds!).
If you guys agree to this, please reply all: (Stan, Chris, Xeroc, Ken, me) asap.
Thanks guys.
Your friend @onceuponatime :-)
p.s. Ken has already agreed to such a Stan-moderated call
@chris4210 and @xeroc declined to attend the stan-moderated conference call