Where the panel landed
The panel agreed that Steem’s reward model was interesting but questioned the need for a new currency attached to a social network. Tone Vays was strongly critical, calling Steem another speculative token with legal and security problems, while Theo Goodman was more open to the social-content experiment if it used Bitcoin or avoided unnecessary currency creation. On Ethereum, both Tone and Theo opposed the hard fork, while the Seafile story produced rare agreement that Bitcoin’s strongest use case was routing around PayPal-style payment censorship.
What they were watching
Price was secondary to infrastructure and governance this week. Organic levels included Steem rising more than 1,000% in two weeks, an $85,000 Steem hack affecting more than 260 accounts, the Ethereum hard fork scheduled for the weekend, and Ethereum price predictions after the fork clustered roughly in the $5 to $8 range, with Tone expecting a drop.
Steem Price And Hack
Steem rose more than 1,000% in two weeks and then suffered an $85,000 hack affecting more than 260 accounts. Theo liked the concept of rewarding social media participation but questioned whether a new currency was needed, while Tone saw the token’s market value as pure speculative chase.
Social Rewards And Bitcoin
The panel compared Steem with Yours Network, Reddit gold, karma, and ProTip. Thomas described ProTip as a Bitcoin-based way to reward creators without inventing a new coin, while Tone argued that content platforms only need decentralized money, not necessarily decentralized everything.
OneCoin As Straight Scam
Thomas brought up Bitcoin Uncensored’s visit to a OneCoin sales seminar, describing the multi-level-marketing style pitch and IRA-focused sales language. Tone called OneCoin more disgraceful than Steem, the DAO, or other token projects because it appeared to be a direct predatory scheme.
Ethereum Hard Fork Warning
Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam’s warning against the Ethereum hard fork framed the next issue. Tone and Theo agreed Ethereum should not fork, with Tone saying the weekend would be a test net for Bitcoin observers and Theo saying the system should learn to live with its mistakes.
Proof Of Stake Concern
Tone argued Ethereum’s push toward proof of stake made the DAO attacker’s large ether position more dangerous to the project’s future. Theo noted that even advanced proof-of-stake designs still face problems when large amounts of coins collect at exchanges or in attacker-controlled accounts.
Kraken And Fork Logistics
The panel noted Kraken’s plan to halt Ethereum deposits before the fork and follow the largest chain. This highlighted the practical complexity of exchanges choosing a canonical chain while users and markets prepared for a potentially chaotic split.
Seafile Leaves PayPal
Seafile choosing Bitcoin after PayPal blocked its service became the clearest pro-Bitcoin story of the episode. Tone compared it to ProtonMail and WikiLeaks, arguing that Bitcoin is most useful where payment processors censor services that care about privacy or operate in disfavored markets.
Bitcoin As Payment Escape Hatch
The panel closed the Seafile discussion by treating Bitcoin as an alternative to PayPal, banks, cards, and government-approved payments. Tone emphasized that Bitcoin did not invent gray-market payments, but removed the middleman that could freeze or confiscate funds.
If you ask if every website should have its own currency, probably not.— Theo Goodman
It's beyond dumb.— Tone Vays
I know it in my knower.— OneCoin presenter, quoted by Thomas Hunt
This weekend is going to be a complete shitshow.— Tone Vays
I'm really long on popcorn.— Theo Goodman
This is what bitcoin is for.— Tone Vays
Story of the Week
Steem Discovers The Token Cycle
The dominant story was Steem because it arrived as the next post-Ethereum speculative social-token experiment and immediately produced both a price mania and security failures. Theo liked the idea of rewarding users for content, but questioned whether every website needs its own currency. Tone treated Steem as a predictable legal and technical mess: a blog site paying users in a made-up tradable token that speculators immediately chased. The larger lesson was that crypto had learned how to manufacture markets faster than it had learned how to secure or justify them.
If you ask if every website should have its own currency, probably not.— Theo Goodman