Thanks for the clarification. I am of the opinion that actions are better than words, and you have demonstrated a lot to our community.
What makes me really sad is this one:
Perhaps the saddest thing in this whole story is that Steem would have turned out quite differently if these had been payments for development work. Given the amount of work we’ve been able to do on Hive at a vastly smaller cost, it’s hard for me to even imagine the sheer amount of improvements we could have made if this kind of money had been devoted to improving Steem.
We have "lost" some valuable time, but we're still here and I hope for a long time!
Cheers!