Does the knowledge of the wealth of someone effects on how many upvotes one gets?

For sure since people hope to get the whale's attention and upvotes themselves.

I agree that this is probably true, but it's also a very silly behavior, because tens if not hundreds of people are upvoting those posts. After a while, people don't even pay attention to those upvotes anymore. If you want to get the attention of a whale, leave a comment that is worthy of attention, I'd say. Upvotes don't stand out at that level.

Do circles of whales are created who upvote themselves as it gibe them the most incentives?

Well, those circles probably would be way worse if it wasn't transparent and they could operate without knowledge.

Very good answer! Without the transparency, the game can be rigged much easier.