Very good article @pfunk, and it did open me up to some info I wasn't aware of. However as I mentioned, the danger of this happening was always on the cards. I said as much 3 years ago in my article about Steem only having the illusion of being decentralised. It's just that Dan, and then later Ned, were honour bound not to do anything with it.

However Ned did use it to control the top witnesses and get through the forks he wanted. Look what happened to Bernie when he went against Ned, and anyone else who disagreed with him was voted out of the top 19 using the very Steem you mention in your article.

I saw it as an inevitability that this would one day happen. Hopefully yourself and some of the other witnesses can guide Justin into taking this platform and subsequently the currency into the future.

Cg