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Anatomy of Justin Sun’s Hostile Takeover of the Steem Blockchain
The only thing more stunning was the lies he told to explain the takeover
It was a pretty ordinary Monday until I turned my attention to what was going on at Steem. News was just starting to break about a hostile takeover of the Steem chain by Justin Sun of the @tronfoundation and the new owner of Steemit Inc. and steemit.com.
It was a stunning counter-attack in response to a defensive step the chain’s governance had taken a week earlier.
What set all this in motion?
Getting Through the Cryptowinter
In the midst of a lengthy cryptowinter, Steemit Inc had been forced to lay off 70% of their development team in November 2018. The move caused considerable concern on Steem as Steemit Inc was the primary block development firm.
Out of the uncertainty came a greater awareness that while Steemit Inc was an integral part of the platform, the level and pace of development happening with the various dapps would mean the chain would continue even if Steemit Inc didn’t. Confidence as a community grew.
Steemit Inc didn’t go away though.
Under the leadership of then newly appointed Managing Director Eli Powell, the small remaining team pulled together. They focused first on cost reduction and improving operational efficiency. Then on further development and growth.
The team worked together to build bridges and improve communications with the community. Lack of communication had been a bone of contention between Ned Scott and the community. Powell and other members of the Steemit Team appeared regularly on podcasts held on Discord, interacting with the hosts and the community.
Coming into 2020 things were looking pretty good.
Communities were in beta and almost ready for release. Smart Media Tokens (SMTs), first announced by Scott in 2017, had been developed and were on a testnet. Steemit encouraged the community to participate on the testnet. The testing had been going on for months and the team felt confident SMTs would be released in a matter of weeks.
