This assumes that the attempt to reign him in wasn't theater to create the illusion of decentralization (which I don't believe is possible to achieve regardless). When the whales flag rewards away, it redistributes the amount to the rest of the claim on the pool, in effect sending much of the flagged claims back into the hands of the flaggers at payout time.

The longer I am here the clearer it seems this was created as an extraction tool relying on others to give a valuation (buying in) so the creators and friends can extract weekly from their created pool from thin air. After what, 3 years, they are finally out of beta by solving node costs and changing the flag name to downvote and moving the placement. They have spent the minimal necessary to keep this running to extract and camouflage the extraction. I have read others say they are in final stages of exit plan, and imagine it is quite possible. I can't imagine how much Bitcoin etc they own now from their daily extractions, and they are probably ready to play on beaches now and quit dealing with the riff raff.

The bubble seems to be popping as more are dropping out by the day it seems, more being chased off by the PTB as they look for the final changes to extract the little currency left before it implodes.

Of course, for the many decent people I have met here, I hope for their sake I am wrong. But my gut tells me I'm not.