Steem community elders accuse Justin Sun of stifling user thoughts and assets, and controlling the blockchain through bribery.

One of the key stakeholders of the Steem blockchain, Dan Hensley, has made serious allegations against TRON founder Justin Sun. He claims that Sun has taken control of the Steem blockchain through bribery involving financial resources, power, and user numbers, and has even used internet permissions to exert control over the blockchain community platform Steemit in terms of ideology and assets.

Justin Sun's Invasion

As reported in early March, many Steem supporters viewed Justin Sun's acquisition of Steem as a malicious invasion. Dan Hensley, one of the key stakeholders in Steem, pointed out in a recent article that shortly after the acquisition, Sun implemented what was known as a "51% attack," using user funds from Binance, Huobi, and Poloniex to vote for his own "puppet nodes," making these nodes witnesses on the Steem blockchain network.

This action sparked strong dissatisfaction within the Steem community, with members coming forward to vote in hopes of expelling these intruders from the blockchain. Dan Hensley noted that as the tide turned in favor of the community in the voting battle, Justin Sun resorted to bribing community nodes:

"Justin Sun realized the unfavorable situation in the voting battle and offered $2,500 per month to community nodes to act on his orders. I have a dApp called 3speak on Steem, and TRON promised to provide us with money, power, users, and liquidity, on the condition that we vote for Sun's nodes and not the community nodes."

The Battle for Steem's Proof of Stake

The Steem blockchain operates on a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism, similar to a representative system in elite politics, where all coin holders vote for witnesses (nodes), and when a network upgrade (hard fork) is needed, it requires agreement from 17 out of the top 20 witnesses for the upgrade proposal to pass. In other words, whoever controls the top 20 witnesses can control the Steem network.

So far, both sides have not provided substantive evidence such as dialogue screenshots to confirm the veracity of these accusations. However, Dan Hensley carries weight within the community, and his descriptions in the article are detailed, indicating it is not fabricated. From Hensley's perspective, the legitimacy of Steem as a decentralized blockchain has been compromised since Justin Sun's acquisition. Hensley even suggested that the STEEM token has become a centralized security due to Sun's invasion:

"He (Justin Sun) has turned STEEM into a centralized security, with all witnesses backed by him. He calls them 'community witnesses,' but I have evidence to prove that the witnesses are actually selected by his secret accounts."

Steemit Suppressing Dissent

In addition to using bribery to circumvent community consensus, Dan Hensley pointed out that Justin Sun would use his authority to conduct ideological censorship on the Steemit community platform on the Steem blockchain, suppressing dissent within the community. One Steemit account that was previously a top 20 witness was deleted for unknown reasons.

To completely prevent Justin Sun's malicious interference with the Steem blockchain, Hensley and other community members chose to hard fork the Steem blockchain, and instead maintain this new branch, Hive, without Justin Sun. It is reported that over 50% of active DApps on the Steem blockchain have migrated to this new branch, Hive.

However, Justin Sun has not stopped his suppression of the original community. Hensley pointed out that apart from any mention of "Hive" being deleted from Steemit, Justin Sun also froze accounts of alleged HIVE witnesses on Steemit during TRON's recent "pump" period:

"Steem witnesses (controlled by TRON) froze large accounts allegedly belonging to Hive witnesses, preventing them from selling STEEM on the market during the pump period, freezing funds estimated at nearly $4 million."

Justin Sun's financial strategies seem ineffective, as excessive intervention in the governance system has led to the departure of most community members, resulting in a significant talent drain and an influx into the forked chain - HIVE. This incident has made people realize that many leaders or exchanges in the industry who claim to advocate decentralization are actually hypocritical. At the same time, it serves as a warning that the true importance of blockchain lies not in how perfect the code or mechanisms are, but in the extent of decentralization and the strength of the community foundation.

Further Reading

• Unraveling the Steem Controversy: Justin Sun's "Takeover," Turning the Original Community into "Hackers"
• TRON's Justin Sun Takeover Incident Highlights Proof of Stake Risks? Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum Won't Face Governance Disputes Like Steem

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