This is a big problem created by a limited distribution of the coins of a project, especially for Proof of Work based project (the early adopters take risk and get rewarded, but on the other hand get a disproportionate amount of power compared to newcomers).
This is probably why Dan Larimer made sure that the next iteration of of PoS (Delegated Proof of Stake, via EOS) would have a widest and freely traded token distribution, lasting a whole year.
It will be a lot harder for whales to crush smaller/newer players within the EOS ecosystem. I can't wait for a distributed social media plaform to run on EOS as Whales are undermining Steemit.