Hey Firofam
I am considering taking a step back and relinquishing my position as Project Steward. I am not disappearing from the project, I’ll be helping the core team but won’t be public facing anymore except for the interviews I’ve already committed to.
The past few years, despite pretty amazing technical achievements that is literally moving the privacy coin space such as Lelantus and Lelantus Spark, in terms of market cap, we haven’t shown much results under my watch. I am extremely proud of the achievements the core team have made and I cannot fault them, as they were following my lead.
However, with the recent community poll and price declines, I have received quite a few DMs that I have been imposing my will on the project and that it is handicapping the growth of the project. These DMs made me do some serious soul searching and I realize that my beliefs and ideals of my version of fairness, honesty and decentralization have been posing a liability despite the very clear fundamental improvements in technology. My position as Project Steward has also made the project highly reliant on my efforts as I am seen as a leader to move things resulting in many in the community adopting a much more passive stance.
Perhaps what Firo needs is to have no central figure and to have the community take charge. This is also why I am a strong advocate of the creation of the community fund in the first place and I’m excited to see this pass. The direction of the core team in this whole year already has been set in any case with the launch of Lelantus Spark and completion of Elysium.
The position of Project Steward has taken a really heavy toll on me mentally and emotionally. This isn’t the first time I’ve thought of doing this as some of our community members know and I have tried taking temporary breaks in the past. Doing your best, making the most of our modest resources and being at the mercy to the whims and fancies of whales using the project as a play thing (such as today’s PnD) are very bitter pills to swallow. The past few months I’ve been going without pay to ensure everyone else gets paid and to retain talent has also been tough. As Firo holds a very very dear place in my heart, its success and failures weigh very heavily on me and it isn’t easy to put up a brave front all the time.
I’ll still be coordinating the core team in the background but I think it is best for myself and perhaps for the project that I do not speak on behalf of the project nor get involved in any of our community interactions. There are many passionate community members that I hope can step up and own this project and I will gladly always be available to share my resources, connections or experience to any community member who reaches out to me to do something for Firo.
I apologise for any missteps I have made and am grateful for being given the chance to steward Firo for the past few years. I am not selling any of my Firo and it remains the largest coin in my portfolio and I have belief that Firo remains extremely undervalued and the importance of our work. Please know that whatever I did, I always had the best of intentions to do right by everyone.
Firo belongs to the community and for it to thrive, it needs to be allowed opportunities to grow and govern and having a vocal project steward doesn’t really encourage that. I’m not going anywhere, I’m still part of the core team to ensure all our development promises are kept but Firo’s vision belongs to all #firofam.
