At least EK and other people didn't drop the project, but let's name things as they are. Lanister (probably) just scammed ~700 BTC.

Well those funds are lost either way even if he did scam and fake an illness as an excuse - he no longer has anything to do with the project and if he reappears at any point he is not going to get anything further from it.

I have full faith in EK and the other devs who have worked for free and created the project without any of the funds.