So here is a timeline of the way things played out and my thoughts on the subject on the end. If I leave anything out or you disagree with anything feel free to let me know as I may not be looking at something correctly.

Miscommunication #1 - Steemit Interview is Held (2/14/2020)

Shortly after Steemit was bought by Hive account@justinsunsteemit they had an announcement video on DLive. I call it an announcement video as it was far from an ask me anything and only quick questions were answered of very little value.

Source

If anyone has images of the tweets let me know, but even after Justin said there wasn't going to be a token swap, multiple tweets were released saying that the token swap was still on and details would be released later.

Miscommunication #2 - Super Reps Elected (2/19/2020)

I don't have much history with Tron, but according to the Cointelegraph Article Justin Sun used genesis Tron tokens to elect Super Representatives, something that Justin promised would never happen.

Justin made a similar promise to the Steem community as he did to the Tron community and didn't follow through on that promise.

Softfork 222 (2/24/2020)

The witnesses tried to protect the blockchain and hold Justin to his promise through code by eliminating the ability of Hive account@steemit accounts of voting for witnesses. For full information on the soft fork (which is by no means permanent) go to this article.

I think this soft fork goes too far in that it freezes all the Steemit accounts from withdrawing or transferring as well, but if you don't do this there is nothing to prevent Justin from moving those funds to new accounts and then voting new witnesses. This is the only option I can see to prevent someone from using funds to vote on witnesses through code.

Exchanges Vote on Witnesses (3/2/2020)

If you have any pictures of these accounts setting their proxy to Hive account@dev365 I would appreciate it. While this doesn't show conclusively that Justin colluded with the exchanges to take over the chain, I think it paints a pretty convincing picture.

Above is an account run by Steemit transferring large amounts of Steem to the exchanges shortly after the Steem from these exchanges was powered up and voted in the Tron witnesses.

Source

Once again, if we have screenshots with timestamps in them it would be much more convincing. I'm hoping some people have these saved on their computer and I can update this article appropriately.

Exchanges Remove Witness Votes (3/3/2020)

Huobi just released a post today denying they did any wrong and a screenshot of Binance's response below.

Source

While it is good these exchanges withdrew their votes, they are now facing liquidity issues of fulfilling orders since they have these funds powered up. Huobi may not be facing these issues, but I know the Steem wallet on Binance has continued to have "issues".

Source

Further Communication with Justin & Korean Community

The Korean Community has helped get 7 Steem Witnesses back in the top 20 and want some clarity on the future of the blockchain. I think this is a great example of using your stake on the Steem blockchain to ensure your voice is heard.

I hope you listen to the video above as Justin Sun makes it very clear what his intentions are in what he does and doesn't say.

My Thoughts and Opinions

1. By Justin Tweeting he bought "Steem" he was able to socially hack exchanges to believing there was a problem with the Steem network and that he needed their help. This may be part of "creating the monster that isn't there", but in my opinion, spreading that false information is what led the exchanges to believe they were helping.

2. Right or wrong, every day we keep Justin's investment held hostage is another day we lose supporters and interest in the blockchain. I call it Justin's investment on purpose, as regardless of what strings are attached to it, we are still holding his money hostage with very limited means or guarantees from us he'll get it back. If someone stole millions of dollars from you, I'm pretty sure you'd do almost anything to get it back.

3. If we come to the table first, and in our current position, with a peace offering we do so in power. We can't guarantee that we can hold at least 4 of the top 20 witness positions forever, and I have a feeling Justin has a bigger war chest than all of us combined. Regardless of if he does or doesn't, I'd rather negotiate from a seat of strength.

4. If you think the general crypto community cares about Steem, from what I can tell, it doesn't. They are more interested in how the exchanges mishandled users' funds than the future of the Steem blockchain. The interest is already slowing down.

I think some great points were made today in PAL

As Hive account@pennsif pointed out and gave the example of the miners, the longer we drag this out the less sympathetic people will become.

As Hive account@andrarchy pointed out I think the monster that we see Justin as is the monster that we have helped to create (to an extent). I'm not saying he's a good guy, but we were the ones that shot first and it doesn't really matter our intentions at this point.

As I said above if anyone has any additional supporting information, screenshots, timelines, or whatever I'd love to update this and help create a document that is as opinion free as possible (Minus my thoughts section)

I'm not perfect at expressing my thoughts and opinions and based on others' points of view may change my mind. Feel free to call me dumb and explain why.