STEEM: Whales Are Losing Their Power....The System Is Not Broken...A 90 Day Shift In The Numbers!!!!
The following conclusions were reached using the data compiled by @arcange who publishes daily posts about the state of this blockchain.
Many seem to think the reward system needs adjusting. They often complain that the Whales have too much power and STEEM will only succeed if the compensation program is changed to distribute the power in a more even fashion. To this I quote the Brits: "bollacks".
There is no need to change the reward system. It is working in an ideal manner and the stats are proving it. The Whales are not getting more powerful (ala the rich get richer mindset). This is not a bankster run system. Instead, this is blockchain with a system in place that ensures the distribution moves from the hands of a few to the hands of many.
To start, I must say that the Whales deserve what they have. For anyone to feel it unfair that Whales have so much SP when they bought into a system when it was far from guaranteed are only speaking from jealousy. Chat with some of the Whales about what the outlook was like when STEEM went from a few dollars to down to 6 cents. Then consider if you would have had the kahunas to buy at 6 cents when it looked like STEEM was going to sink. I am going to surmise that most reading would not have bought.
Therefore, those who were "lucky" enough to buy when the things were looking bleak deserve to be in the position they are.
That said, this is not going to be eternal. In fact, the last 90 days shows a shift is happening.
Here is a snapshot of the situation on Oct 26, 2017:
The total MVests were 390,055 at that time.
On a percentage basis:
Whales 71%
Orcas 13%
Dolphins 9%
Minnows 4%
Red Fish 2.3%
Inactive 0%
Do not ask me why the Inactive were zero at that time...perhaps @arcange did not use that category then.
The top two categories controlled 84% of the Voting Power.
Now let us look at the latest (1/25/18) breakdown.
The total MVests here is 392,754.
On a percentage basis:
Whales 65%
Orcas 17%
Dolphins 10%
Minnows 5%
Red Fish 1.2%
Inactive 1.6%
As we can see, even though the Orcas had an increase, the value of the top two categories went down to 82%; a 2% decrease in 90 days. This amounts to an 8% drop on a yearly basis.
The change over that time period is as such:
Whales -7.5%
Orcas +25.7%
Dolphins +12.2%
Minnows +24.2%
Red Fish -48.92%
Inactive Was 0% to start
What jumps out is that the Red Fish took a big hit. I am going to guess that many of these ended up in the Inactive account category. Also, with such a jump in the Minnows, I am going to guess many moved up.
The big takeaway from all this is the Whales saw their power significantly reduced. A large part of this might be from powering down. With STEEM heading up, some might have decided to cash out. Also, with SBD increasing, many Whales could have decided to cash that in while the other categories are taking this opportunity to power up at an increased rate.
We will have to see what happens going forward. Nevertheless, it does appear that as more people enter the system and increase their SP, this takes a larger part of the reward pool away from the select few at the top. Quite simply, they cannot post enough articles to withstand the onslaught brought on by the sheer number of newer people.
For all the complaining about the rich getting richer, it does not appear to be the case. There are more MVests in the hands of people under 50K than there were 90s days ago.
The distribution is leveling out a bit.
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well...first of all more than 80% of wealth in the hands of 0.16% (!) of the accounts is still a catastrophic distribution.
And secondly, the main problem I see is that with steem, the economic distribution is directly causing a political distribution, as for witness voting, the SP, and not the number of votes, counts. And the rich determining everything without any chance for the 99.9% to counter any decision is not a good system.
I know most whales have the best interests of the blockchain in mind and all, but we really shouldn't rely on trust in the upper 1% so much, that can go terribly wrong should just a tiny group of people decide to abuse the power.
A year ago, 90% of the wealth was in the hands of the .16%.....
So it is changing.
On planet earth, 10% of the population - not 0.16 - are holding 85% of global wealth, and that is a bad system already.
And there, with many democracies around, political power is not even directly connected to this distribution.
So steem is much, much worse distributed than money on planet earth at any given time. Even feudal Europe was better.
I do NOT say we should take away wealth from the whales. They have mostly earned it, or invested early, when everything was just a dream. That's ok.
But we have to put mechanisms in place for a faster catching-up of content creators. Plus we have to take "political" power to the people - i.e. seperate it at least partly from the wealth distribution.
Or we'll end in a non-participatory oligarchy, and that's bad for anyone who holds a single steem.
I've written a lot about this. Steem Power is a measure of platform trust and currently the only way to gain trust is to invest in the platform.
This was a good idea to get Steem going, but it's already outdated itself. We need to employ smarter metrics of trust. You should only get Steem Power when you interact positively with the blockchain and you should lose it for negative encounters.
I've made a lot of suggestions like having trials-by-jury and things like that but I suppose I'll have to become a much bigger player in the community before I'm taken seriously.
My most popular post received 1.27$. I am on Steemit a week, so consider it a success. I read a lot of posts and articles and believe that the whales do deserve what they have.
I have a question - 3 days in a row I have problems on Steemit, I can't publish posts, add comments, get rewarded. I see a sign "naditinkoff bandwidth limit exceeded. Please wait to transact or power up STEEM.". Please tell me what this means? Thanks in advance for the answer.
When Steemit is having problems they have to greatly limit bandwidth. It has no effect if you have enough steem power in your account. The problem will "correct itself", usually after 6-12 hours.
Right now my bandwidth is 1 MB. Usually it's 66 MB. However, it's going up. It will be back up to 66 MB soon™.
I have 50 SP
You have 15 SP https://steemd.com/@naditinkoff and 150KB bandwidth left so you can post again.
Thanks for the reply!
I think it is a case of rich getting richer while poor become better somehow.
A lot of minnows including me are getting some rewards but are not satisfy with our rewards and whales upvoting whales system. But people that invested their fiat and effort in Steemit at the early stage sure deserve to get rewarded for it.
Saying all these, a lot of newcomers and minnows are definitely frustrated by the returns on their well created posts. It is not a competition, the growth of steemit is beneficial to all. The whales should support the others fishes, the more the merrier...right?
you have 23 SP which is worth about $138 at this moment after being on here since December.
Just curious, how much did you make on other social media sites in your first month on there?
hehe...definitely $0. Naturally we all want more, we will love to make more from a well researched and written post than few cents especially when you see people raking in hundreds of dollars from every post. Like I said before many of them have paid dues in investment of fiat or effort, so well deserved.
For me, it is not really about the reward now but potential is enormous. Steemit is a platform like no other that sure reward creativity, hardwork and relationship building. I am glad I am part of it and I have been inviting everyone around me to join the moving train.
Thanks TM,
Sometimes we all lose focus when we're endlessly comparing and forget that Steemians are where they are at because they add value to to the ecosystem when nobody wanted to and nobody cared to.
Thanks again for summarizing the data from arcange and providing a useful comparison for perspective and insight.
Respects,
Dj
No system is perfect and no system will ever be perfect. This system compared to any other system in human history is 100% transparent so issues (and there will always be issues) can get discussed and will eventually resolve themselves in a non-violent manner. To @taskmaster4450 's point, the wealth is being distributed down and in a more even way...unlike anything else we've seen recently across the globe. Those that took the risk at .06 / Steem are now being paid for their risk as they cash out a portion of their Steem. Others who are taking the risk now (like myself and others who put money in at $1.50) will look to take money out when Steem is $50 or $100 and the distribution will get even more even. Again, no system is perfect but this is a lot fairer than most I've seen. I was on Facebook for years (not anymore) and I'm still waiting on my checks, they must have gotten held up in the mail...
Im still a minnow hoping to become a dolphin soon. I was ganna buy more steem but decided to earn the rest for now.
Nothing is wrong with the SP and who have it, it only a matter of jealous as you said... anyone can get their. investment and risk determine Success or failure.
You're exactly right, and as long as we stick to it, and deliver quality content as often as we can, we'll be right there at the top with them someday.
This is fucking fantastic news, and I'm so glad it isn't going the other way, but in reality... it really couldn't.
I mean think about it, the more people that join, the larger the other demographics get, which means smaller vote power, but collectively... an unstoppable force no doubt! 🐬
well I think the reward pool should be left just the way it is though there are still some things I find confusing on this platform but I am catching up fast, especially from your post. Thanks for sharing
I'm glad you pointed out that dispute that some feel it unfair many of those whales are majorly early adopters that their investment represents a risk of effort and funds that actually paid off.
I read a lot of those sort of complaints on exterior sites while I was researching the platform before I joined.
Fact is the rewards they now get are part of the fruits of their labour.
Large part of me wishes I had joined at that time hell when I first joined after I learnt not to use the built in converter I could buy 2.8 steem with 1 sbd so converting to power up was heaps easier than now with some days being near 1-1
Still don't want steemit to go backwards tho