I highly suggest having a look at this article by @lextenebris which has some deeper and very interesting commentary on a similar topic.
It suggests that many of the whales at the top of the eco-system would be losing mvest because they're taking it out, not reinvesting it in the community (at least that's what I got out of the read).
Let me know what you think. :)
Edit: Upvoting for visibility. Its important work that they've done.
Thanks @holoz0r. I will give it a read.
And if they are cashing out, how does that change things. The fact they are powering down means that their SP is weakened, hence making the rest of the community stronger. People complain whales have all the power. If a Whale sells his/her stake and leaves, isnt that person eliminated from the reward pool?
I'm interested to see what can be done with data from the top 200 accounts in terms of % of the reward pool obtained versus the (aggregate) percentage of the reward pool is given to those not within the top 200.
So let's say a whale gets 0.8% of the reward pool in any given week, is their growth potential (if they were to reinvest the liquid rewards) equal, or more than that of a minnow?
I would wager that it would be more. My hypothesis on such a trend would be as follows:
(This would be on the basis of reputation number alone, and the size of vests following them)
I don't have the SQL / database smarts to pull the data, but I think it would be fascinating to see.
Yeah I lack the skills to pill info from the blockchain also.
One point to remember, is MVests get more expensive with time even if the price does not change. One buying in today versus a year ago is going to pay more for the MVest than the one a year age even if the price is identical. That is one advantage to being in early and staying in.
You are correct in that a Whale could cash out and buy back in...just like someone else can come in with a large stake if he or she wanted and become an instant Whale.
However, the sell out, buy in game at these levels is a risky move. Some might get it right but if they miss, it is costly. The worst thing to do is to sell while believing the price will be cheaper to buy in and have it run on you. This easily could happen.
I am not sure I follow you about the reputation...that is not based on MVests...if one powers down, he or she maintains the reputation.
You don't need to be a whale to abuse the system. Actually, it is easier for smaller accounts to abuse the system, because they go under the radar and/or tolerated.
All you have to do is to post, comment, and self vote 10 times a day and you'll see returns to your capital that no other legal investment would provide, only for a limited time of course.
That is until the whole currency and the platform crashes. I disapprove of this type of behavior, but the system allows it. It's a %65 Million USD per year problem, if you do the math. All of that cash comes from the Steem/Steem Power holders that don't abuse the system.
This is a good point. Whales cashing out is actually bad news. That means that big investors are losing their faith in the system and selling their stake off slowly.
My thoughts exactly, @taskmaster4450. The big guys are cashing out and even transisto has talked about being a bag holder.
That's technically not what I've shown.
What I've shown is that funds transfers are primarily (by target) moving into the top 200 accounts by SP not out of. I pointedly did not make any analysis of the magnitude of any of those transfers, primarily because I couldn't come up with a good way to actually present that much information in a meaningful way.
I'm still considering that.
The overall level of liquidity in the pool of investiture appears to be static, for the most part. It doesn't appear as if a lot of that value is being transferred out of the chain – it's just sitting there.
Not doing much.
Just sitting there.