I do believe he's completely sincere in the statement "I just wanna make money!" His intentions may have been as simple as "buy Steemit, throw a few $ million at developing features and social marketing, make it all a big deal, watch Steem rise from 15 cents to $5.00, sell out and pocket a couple of hundred million dollars.

This. ^^^^ This is what I have predicted from the very beginning. Thank you for articulating it better than I've been able to, @denmarkguy