Update: The CoinDesk article mentions Steem on Graphene. I didn't really understand how this worked until I found an under-appreciated article posted a few days ago by @oaldamster explaining this using the "census suffrage" analogy.
https://steemit.com/steem/@oaldamster/census-suffrage-or-why-steem-on-graphene-is-in-effect-a-decentralized-stakeholder-company-on-a-blockchain