Although cryptocurrency exchange giants Binance had initially claimed to assume an opposing stance in Justin Sun’s controversial Steem hard fork, the firm announced on May 23 that it will honor its obligations. The exchange stated that it will synchronize its network up to the Steem hardfork 0.23. The fork confiscated and voided more than $5 million worth of Steem owned by some of the community members who had earlier opposed Justin Sun’s takeover of Steemit.
Sun recently purchased the blockchain based social network. However, he enraged the Steemit community to the extent that they enacted a hardfork to Hive, a duplicate of Steemit. Justin Sun and his supporters were not allowed the free HIVE airdrop tokens. The disputed Justin Sun Steem hardfork 0.23 attacked those accounts that took part in the Hive token airdrop.
Exchange Giants Binance Initially Opposed Steem hardfork
According to yesterday’s announcement, Binance claimed that it refuted its support when it was originally apprised of the hard fork earlier this month. Moreover, the exchange highlighted that they were not in support of Sun draining the wallets of the rebels, as it is not what blockchain stands for. The exchange wrote:
“We do not condone this type of behavior and believe that blockchains should not be used as a tool for censorship or editing user balances.”
Nevertheless, the crypto exchange firm has reversed its initial stance and will synchronize its network up to Steem 0.23. The exchange firm stated that its reason to back the hardfork was because its users were unable to transact on Steem with Binance opposing the hardfork. The announcement noted that its opposition of the hardfork was unfavorable to its users who hold STEEM.
Steam Rises in The Battle for STEEM
Back in March, the TRON founder purchased Steemit, giving access to STEEM tokens worth in excess of $12 million; which were initially owned by its creator Ned Scott. With the STEEM tokens at his disposal, Sun could use it to dominate Steemit. As a result, the Steemit community voted to deny Justin Sun from gaining the funds; as they did not entrust him with that authority.
Annoyed by the action, Justin Sun utilized his monetary superiority and his connections at exchanges such as Huobi and Binance to enact a hardfork that reinstated his access to the founder’s share. This resulted in many members of the Steemit community departing to form a replica of Steemit, called the Hive