Bitshares is widely deemed a failure and Steemit, despite its increase in price, is failing to lure engaging content and intelligent debate (let's face it, this is a cesspool of crypto speculation, nothing more). Further, why is it literally impossible to find out any information on Dan before Bitshares (aside from holding a slew of short term engineering positions at random companies as per his LinkedIn page)?

I don't know -- I hate to come off as a hater, but I just get a bad feeling about this guy. Seems like he's pulled the wool over everyone's eyes because 99.9% of the world is tech illiterate -- engineers are like modern day plumbers whereby the average civilian has absolutely no clue when he or she is being taken for a ride.