I asked the Steemit's Content Director @andrarchy about what happened on Poloniex and HitBTC, and he muted me forever. I didn't think that was fair. His duty as Content Director is ensuring "production of Content coming out of Steemit Inc". I thought it was a reasonable question that everyone is wanting to know the answer. My feeling is that I am asking a question that the answer is wildly sensitive. I get the impression that the answer would reveal some serious problems that STEEM Inc doesn't want to make public.

I asked @timcliff if Poloniex has lost the keys to 44 million dollars worth of STEEM and SBD. I'm pretty sure that they haven't lost access to customer's money. @timcliff got defensive about the question and pointed out that "Their team is not incompetent." My ploy to gain informaion was a little sneaky, but I got the information that I wanted. Clearly the "maintenance issue" is intentional. The fact that @timcliff declared that Poloniex is not incompetent speaks volumes about what is going on and communications are happening. This really leaves one of 2 logical conclusions that have taken place.

1. Poloniex and HitBTC are holding those wallets hostage with the expectation that STEEM Inc will pay a ransom.
2. STEEM Inc has coordinated with Poloniex and HitBTC to stop wallet transactions and manipulate the price of STEEM and SBD to keep the price low.