It is really up to you guys what the whales should be doing, but it seems like bots to game the system aren't really in the interest of the core vision of the company, right?
Whales are so invested in the platform already. If the platform doesn't succeed, then they lose significant amounts of money. It is in their best interests to curate for free just to keep the quality of the content high, this is the power of the platform! This product will only succeed if the content is well maintained and looked after, the whales will understand this. So why is voting rewarded at all? The reputation tool will keep people in check well enough. It seems unnecessary to incentivise upvotes and it sounds like it is causing you guys a headache.