EDIT: I am removing myself as a delegate.
Additional information/links:
Discord - @The Gimp#6969
Telegram - @The_Gimp
Twitter - @SovrynGimp
7 Likes
Hi there,
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for your tremendous dedication as Community Manager! Like so many others, I was personally given massive support by you. Thank you very much!
And now, I would like to learn your position on the actual SIP - would love to know more about your opinion - so that I, and who else is interested in, can decide who to delegate voting power to. Of course, I want to know if you are or aren’t in favor of BCW supremacy and about your general standpoint on this. I assume that not a single person is questioning the relevance or the great potential of BabelFish itself. The whole debate has become very emotional because whether you like it or not, it feels like BCW is trying to establish a dominant position and take over a large part of BabelFish and, in fact, SOVRYN.
2 Likes
Sure thing, the Babelfish SIP has been quite controversial in the community, and personally.
To clarify something on the side of Sovryn. This is Babelfish’s proposal, not Sovryn’s. Babelfish choose the terms and can submit their proposal to a vote through having (or having access to) at least 1% of current voting power. This can happen regardless of anyone’s opinions on the topic. That is the point and role of the Bitocracy - to take proposals and vote on them. It is important that ANYONE with 1% of voting power can push a proposal to a vote as this is fundamental to the workings of Bitocracy, these sorts of things must not and cannot be suppressed.
Personally, I I have struggled with the role BCW are playing in Sovryn. On one hand they have been very early adopters, supporting Sovryn through the early sales and again through purchasing SOV after the token trading went live. There is no evidence of any ‘dumping’ or malicious intent. BCW also historically do follow through with the promise of long-term commitment: BZRX was a BCW premium call in 2018 and BCW is still holding BZRX. 3 years is more than Sovryn can hope for on a commitment basis - it happens to be the same time frame as the maximum staking length 
On the other hand, BCW premium are a paid group, the idea of allowing this group preferential treatment OVER the Sovryn community in regards to this token sale does strike sore, and I would argue could set a poor precedent for the future of Sovryn. From what I could see, the overwhelming majority of feedback on the Babelfish SIP was along the lines of ‘what about Sovryn community?’. There was a clear under representation and even under-appreciation of the Sovryn community in the first draft. To my disappointment, it did not appear that this feedback was acted upon to an extent I would be impressed by.
However, upon reflecting on it some more, I see that the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, and those drawbacks are not as bad as I first thought:
- Based on hard data, BCW do not account for enough SOV to form any “elite” or “centralised” threat as it has been claimed; the majority of SOV in BCW hands is from the early sales and recent purchases. The large token emissions will (and already have done to a degree) dilute their influence over time. Therefore this is not a threat, or even a possible disadvantage to Sovryn.
- As mentioned earlier, it is BabelFish’s SIP, not Sovryn’s. The BabelFish community is essentially the BCW community, they’re closely intertwined and this is realistically none of Sovryn’s business. So a paid group is involved with the launch of a good new project: I say good on them for kickstarting it.
- The BCW target is (at minimum) a Sovryn marketcap of $1billion. We know SOV will hit that, they do too. Whether they dump at 1b or not will not matter by then. I commend them for holding up to (and maybe past) that point.
- Regarding the poor precedent is sets for Sovryn going forward, my opinion on this was largely formed based on the poor first draft. The new draft includes a 1% airdrop of total FISH supply to SOV stakers (As I always say, stakers are my #1 priority). This is a very good thing - and an EXTREMELY good precedent - for a couple of reasons. Yes you may say “but BCW get 7.74% on day one and there’s also 4.76% on day two!! 1% is nothing wtf bro!!”. To that I say, stakers are not paying a single satoshi for the FISH they will receive, and are free to participate on day 2 of the sale. Considering stakers could have received NO early-access style event had the FISH pre-sale been held privately solely for BCW or gone straight to a trade listing, this is a damn good compromise. Secondly (the big juicy hummana hummana), this sets the precedent that future token launches on Sovryn can also airdrop their tokens to Sovryn stakers. As stakers are #1 in my eyes, this is a phenomenal event and precedent to set. Free tokens from (mostly) all future sales?!?! Yes. I like this a lot. Stakers need more appreciation now especially given the lack of clarity surrounding staking rewards and the opportunity cost of having SOV staked in Bitocracy as opposed to earning from LP and the SOV loot drop.
- Lets take a step back. Back from a Sovryn investor. Back from being a BCW premium member or not. Take a look at the scenario. A fundamentally good project is being listed on a killer DEX/launchpad/everything else Sovryn is. The governance token for this new project is up for sale, great. The first day’s sale and majority of tokens are being allocated to BCW, then day 2 is open to everybody (with 50% unlocked for sale instantly! Don’t underestimate the advantage this has). 1% of TOTAL supply is being airdropped to SOV stakers FOR FREE! An unbiased opinion would evaluate this as more or less fair. My biased opinion wants to demand better allocations and prices for stakers, but in reality this deal is a good one.
- BCW are a paid group yes, they hold a lot of SOV collectively yes, they also are getting VERY good treatment in this SIP yes. BUT, realistically, why the f*ck not? I first thought it another pump and dump group. I have since seen the effort and learning the members go through (far more than the average Joe investor from what I have seen). Bitocracy needs EDUCATED votes, I do not care for the greed and shortsightedness that often comes with uneducated votes. Therefore, I welcome BCW, more then I ever thought I would.
I personally do not see BCW as a threat, and know from the data that they do not have the capacity to damage Sovryn’s future as some people think they can. Whilst I definitely do not like the idea of BCW ‘dominating’ Sovryn and it’s future, this idea is just that, an idea. I now view as BCW as a supportive group that forms a minority of the Sovryn community. Of all the paid groups out there, it would be hard getting group so long-term focused and educated as BCW premium (as for the free group… let’s just say they are equal to any other degen group in my eyes). I will be voting YES on the BabelFish SIP and congratulating the BCW premium members for getting in on it early alongside the Sovryn stakers who are receiving the airdrop, and the wider Sovryn community who will participate in day 2 of the sale. As always, any questions or comments please reply 
17 Likes
This is an excelent explanation to the actual SOVRYN / BABELFISH situation. I really hope, that those who are unsatisfied with BabelFish SIP will read it with undestanding. It is a lot of text to go through, but You have fully covered most concerning and mostly discussed things which have to be taken into consideration prior to casting vote on SIP-18.
Thank You! Chapeau bas!
5 Likes
Sound reasoned arguments and thoughts very similar to mine. I like they way your thoughts have evolved over time having taken a more detailed look and the SIP being updated “Strong opinions weakly held”. At the moment my plan is to be active in the Bitocracy but I know who to delegate to now should I have to step away.
4 Likes