Just wanted to throw out some observations on the current distribution of STEEM. From looking at the richlist and distribution charts, we already have several people holding over $1 million in vesting steem right now (at the current price of 0.0012 BTC/STEEM). That is…pretty crazy. Watching their STEEM Power increase by upwards of 10 STEEM per minute just from sitting there is mind-boggling to think about. It kind of feels like an imbalance is forming, in that the only people able to bring in the big bucks are those with vast caches of capital already in the system, and newcomers at this point have no real hope to catch up. Combine this with the comparatively immense rewards whales receive for curation and the system seems to become a self-fulfilling extension of their dominance.

This also makes the issue that the only posts that are going to be seen are those that are “whale-approved”, so the only way to get into the spotlight is to write articles that appeal to these special few. An interesting post can get 50+ upvotes, but if the whales disapprove and/or just don’t notice it, then the post just kind of goes to the wayside and is quickly forgotten. A vote from a whale can give a post a massive injection of attention and rewards, while the little guy with even a few thousand dollars of vesting STEEM feels he can barely make a dent in the grand scheme of things. We all have a voice and if someone feels they’re not being adequately rewarded for their contributions they will likely look elsewhere. I don’t want to see it come to this.

I’m not sure if there’s any way to correct this imbalance before it gets any deeper than it already has, but I thought it important enough to bring attention to. I love the idea of Steem and have a decent stash myself, which is why I want to see contrarian issues like this brought to the forefront so they can be discussed, dissected, and tackled before it’s too late. I ultimately just don’t want to see STEEM become slave to the almighty whales, an oligopoly of sorts with only a select few deciding what gets rewarded and what shouldn’t be seen. I have hope that this won’t happen, but only time will tell. Either way Steem is truly an amazing experiment all around and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Thanks, and keep on STEEMing.