Summary
It should be mentioned right at the start that researching BitShares can be likened to running blindfolded through a maze. It is a convoluted labyrinth of broken links, disbanded companies, stutter steps and strategic pivots, and half-cooked businesses that may or may not still be relevant. Founder Daniel Larimer has such massive ambitions for BitShares, the net has been so widely cast, that it has become very difficult to understand the core business. This is not to say that there is not potential in BitShares, and that it could not serve to advance the cryptocurrency market. I really have no idea whether this thing is absolutely genius or just smoke and mirrors. What I do know is that there is a massive communications gap and no truly effective spokesperson has emerged able to break down an extremely complex business into something the wider market can digest. This inability to deliver a straight and simple message will absolutely discourage adoption.
Mr. Larimer is an extremely bright developer who has made fantastic contributions to the crypto market, and he is deserving of respect. However, he has been a bit of disaster on the PR front. He has the tendency to belittle others in a manner that is tone deaf at best, petty and mean-spirited at worst. He makes snickering remarks about bitcoin, as if it is just a matter of time before bitshares leaves it in the dustbin of history. He was quick to tell JR Willet how and why Mastercoin would not work..and that he "should have saved himself the time". There are numerous other examples. As representative of bitshares, Mr. Larimer must insure he is projecting a good image to the wider cryptocurrency market.
Delegated Proof of Stake mining
The platform utilizes a solution known as Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) which means to adjust what the Larimers view as a large flaw in bitcoin mining technology, namely the wastefulness of proof of work based on computational power, and an uncontrolled creep towards centralization. Bitshares views this centralization as an inevitability, and maintains it should be embraced and leveraged rather than fought.
Delegated Proof of Stake (DPS) is a decentralized method of hiring and firing 101 delegates responsible for signing the transactions on the community's behalf. Delegates earn their reputation based on mining performing, value added to the community, and other measurements, and hold their offices based on a democratic vote of all Bitshare holders. There is quite a competition to claim one of the 101 delegate spots, not only due to the fee compensation but also for the respect earned within the community. Some delegates are elected based on their level of prestige and commitment to bitshares, while others campaign on promises to "burn" a high percentage of their transaction fees, either to be redistributed as interest to shareholders, or to boost the network in one way or another.
Follow-through on campaign promises and faithful execution of mining duties bolster a delegate's reputation score, while reneging on promises or failing to adequately perform duties has the opposite effect. Should a delegate be inclined to do something harmful to the network - sign a bad block, not show up or some other dereliction of duty - the autonomous system can "fire" the delegate.
BitShares future
In December of 2104, the DACs VOTE and DNS were merged onto the BitShares X platform, which was rebranded as BitShares. This was supposedly the last activist management decision made by Dan Larimer, who proceeded to disband his holding company Invictus Innovation Incorporated, and join BitShares as a full-time delegate. He proclaimed BitShares a successfully launched DAC, signaling its coming of age, as well as the ostensible end of his central management.
It will be quite interesting to see how BitShares progresses from here. Will it live up to the massive expectations of the Larimers and their community? Or will it prove to be half cooked and poorly designed, and crash without Dan Larimer's benign guidance? 2015 is most likely the year in which these questions will be answered.
If one has little faith in bitassets, then the only argument for BitShares over enhancer technologies like Counterparty is Delegated Proof of Stake which, while an innovative concept, has not passed the test of time.