This is Nelson, NEM Council Member.
It has come to my attention that there have been accusations being thrown at me that may be driven by ill motives. I know that many have genuine intentions, but some of the remarks are uncalled for and I am addressing them to ensure we can move forward.
The transactions I made that were irrationally accused to be “malicious” were transactions for personal purposes that were coursed through my trusted friend (and my personal assistant) whom I ask to settle my liabilities in the Philippines. The XEM that were sent are to be used to pay my rent and utility services in my home country.
Meanwhile, the 24 transactions with 500 XEM were disbursed neither to sponsor nor to buy votes (as others are alleging) but to lend the NEM Global Team staff the $50 required to pay membership fee, which is too high especially for a low-income country such as the Philippines. To put things in perspective, the average minimum monthly salary in the country ranges from $170 to $224.5. So the $50 membership fee is burdensome for most of them. It is true that blockchain is transparent as for the transactions, but you cannot see the real intention.
It has to be noted that the membership is never forced. Most of my staff are already registered NF members since last year, even before the election announcement. With the new rules, all members shall settle the membership fee and, knowing that this is quite too high, there seem to have been some hesitations on their part. It was at that point that I felt a certain kind of pride because of how much they have grown to understand and contribute to NEM and, more importantly, how much they want to be involved with the Foundation. Initially, I’ve been paying their salaries (from my own pocket) in advance to avoid delayed payments from the Foundation—the Council can prove that. That being said, why are some community members condemning the act of lending the membership fee? The Global Team staff are receiving their salaries on the 15th of the month and the deadline of the membership payment is on November 9th.
For the record, the team is not instructed to vote for specific candidate/s. They were in fact encouraged to do their own research and vote for the best and most competent candidate in this election.
While I am disgusted with the false accusations that are thrown upon me, I remain hopeful that through this election, the right people will be placed to lead the Foundation.
PS: If I am really cheating, why would I use wallets that are known and can be tagged to myself?
Click here to see screenshots and explanations behind the transactions
I would like to end with these 3 messages:
1. Professionalism — Let us move forward with supporting the NEM elections in a professional manner. If you have any findings and/or complaints, bring this up through proper channels––not on public channels with accusations that only seek to bring down people. Let us encourage people and support what they do and channel any queries professionally.
2. Politics — let us do our best to remove ourselves from any political divide and allow all candidates (when the list goes up) to present themselves and be voted in through meritocracy and not popularity. Let them prove that they deserve to lead as ExCo and Council Member and be accountable for it.
3. Participation — let us not be drowned by the voices of few, but speak up and represent the silent majority. I encourage everyone to participate in asking questions with courtesy, reading the candidacy documents without being accusatory, and showing support for council nominees with sincerity, and take part in voting leadership that you know will work hard to ensure that the NEM.io Foundation continues to serve the community we have journeyed with and those who will come to know about our technology platform.
Thank you for reading this, let us move forward. The future is still young and bright for NEM.io Foundation.
