SEC S17-W5 || Whales In Steem Blockchain

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The word "whales" in the blockchain world is so frequently used that it stimulates thought-provoking debates. They are the key stakeholders who not only command a lot of attention but also can steer the course and shape the future of projects or a community. However, who precisely are they, and what exactly are their obligations to the community?

According to the evidence in my finding, there is no specific definition of these entities. Cryptocurrencies are, unfortunately, referred to by different blockchain platforms with different meanings. The most widespread opinion of whale is someone who holds at least 10% of a cryptocurrency. In the BTC environment, someone with over 1,000 BTC is typically considered a whale. The case of whales is represented by some of the most prominent names, including the Winklevoss twins, who have about 70,000 BTC, and Michael J. Saylor who, at least, owns 17,732.

On the Steem ecosystem, the term "whales" covers entities which hold a large amount of Steem cryptocurrency assets especially STEEM tokens or STEEM Power. In Steem they can play a major role in affecting prices, liquidity, as well as, market stability. Whales, in particular, are considered to be change makers because of their capacity to influence the market through large-scale transactions.

Anyone can become a whale on Steem, including institutional investors with large corporate holdings or single wealthy people. They achieve this position through the collection of Steem assets, which is usually, accumulated through direct purchasing or earned by publications on steem platform.

_{The top 10 whales on the Steem platform, ranked by the indicator of the amount of STEEM Power they possess, can be found here}

The Whales' Dilemma

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While the task of whales was prior to the community has become a controversial aspect for discussion, Steem community keeps on growing. On the other hand, in being key members, the community and projects on Steem will surely benefit from their activities. For example, they can provide financial assistance to creators, ensure market liquidity, or drive users to participate in making content.

However, from a capitalist perspective, the primary goal of whales is to accumulate profit and maximize their gains. In a more pragmatic context, whales have the right to control prices or markets for their own benefit. In many other blockchain-based platforms, whales can dominate the platform and steer the direction of project development, inevitably leading to wealth disparities among users, especially the minnows.

The responsibility of whales towards the Steem community appears somewhat ambiguous to me, as it often hides behind the individual interests of seeking maximum profit, contrasting with the collective interest of ensuring the sustainability of the Steem community (so that profits can be accumulated for as long as possible). Even as Steemians, we surely have pragmatic reasons for joining this platform, right? It's impossible for us to be here without "capital" reasons as I mentioned earlier.

Yet, other responsibilities or issues present themselves from an ethical and moral standpoint. From an ethical point of view it is wrong to practice manipulation of users or any activity that can harm users as it will finally destroy the Steem platform itself. Actions which involve grassroot vote manipulation or any behavior which adversely affects other users have the potential to destroy the trust of the public external to the Steem platform and threaten the overall resilience of the platform.

Responsibilities

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Furthermore, whales should abstain from anything that goes against ethical and moral values and they have a role to play in conserving Steem ecosystem. Here are three key roles that, in my opinion, whales play in their responsibility to the community:

1. Strengthening the Community

While whales in massive ocean are feared by every other marine creature, Steem's whales are so magnetic that they are bound to capture everyone's attention. Given all these super powers, it isn’t a big deal. There are some who empoy whales to seek out curation rewards, as well as others who receive support due to high-quality content they have made.

2. Guarding Against Steem 'Inflation'

Whales in the Steem community own a considerable amount of STEEM in a bid to control the supply. As a major holder of the STEEM, the whales serve as a kind of a safety net in case the crypto-market falls out of favor. Whales also act as investors whose interest to invest in the Steem platform, especially through the buying of STEEM Power, is strengthened. That is due to the fact that the present trend shows that with the growing number of users on the platform, it results in more interactions within it. These interactions will invite outside entities to invest in the Steem platform. Besides that, this will also boost its competitiveness in the global market.

Five Phases

There are five phases of your journey when you are converting yourself successfully into a whale. In fact, it is even more appropriate to think in hierarchical terms from the SP being the lowest user level to the highest SP of course.

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1. Plankton

Plankton occupies the lowest rank in the Steemit ecosystem. These are the ones who have just signed up to Steemit. Analogically to plankton organisms drifting in the ocean in nowhere, users with plankton status have just joined Steem. The plankton on Steemit are dependent on the community for their success milestones to be achieved.

2. Minnow

Minnows usually are termed as micro-bloggers on Steemit with SP below 5000. Those are the little Steem power users. Each vote from them counts less than 0.1 to your account. Despite minnows being freshmen with less votes, dismissing them would be an utter mistake. Normally, it is the active period for the users whose motivation level is at its highest point and it is at this moment that they engage themselves in building communities around them through regular commenting of other accounts.

3. Dolphin

Dolphins are users with the staking power between 5,000 and 50,000 STEEM Power (SP). They are users with a moderate amount of investment in the platform. One of the their votes can increase your account balance by just a few cents. Dolphins are already established and have the potential to become an orca or a whale someday. Dolphins typically start seeking curation rewards by voting on posts that are expected to be voted on by Whales so they want to vote before Whales come in.

4. Orca

Orca is a user with a small enough size to fall into the category of a whale, but too huge to be categorized as a dolphin. Orca is a user with 50 K to 500K SP.

5. Whale

This is the level that we have been talking about all the time, the monarchs of the ocean, the whales. Whales are the individuals with 500000 SP and above. In a single click, a single whale vote can deposit hundreds of dollars into your account. Whales are the mega stars in the field of users' posts. Their votes can essentially decide which posts will be viewed more often and which ones will make more money.

Conclusion and Strategy

The presence of "whales" in the Steem ecosystem certainly poses challenges for users of the Steem platform, especially for those at lower levels such as plankton, minnows, and dolphins.

One of the most prominent challenges is the imbalance of power and influence between whales and other users. Whales wield significant voting power, allowing them to easily influence reward distribution and the visibility of posts. This can make it difficult for other users to compete and receive due recognition for their content.

In my opinion, there are several tips that users can adopt to expand their influence and attract whales:

1. Leverage Existing Communities

Users, particularly plankton and minnows, can leverage community features as a collaborative space for mutual support. By working together, they can provide each other with votes and support to increase the visibility of their content. Collaboration also enables users to exchange experiences and strategies to address challenges collectively.

2. Focus on Quality

Despite the challenge of competing with whales in terms of voting power, users can still focus on creating high-quality content that adds value to the community. Original, informative, and engaging content has a greater chance of garnering attention and support from various parties, including whales.

3. Be Flexible and Adaptive

Adapting to changes in the Steem ecosystem is inevitable. Users need to be flexible and adaptive to changes in rules, market trends, and the behavior of other users. By remaining open to change and ready to adjust their strategies, users can stay relevant and competitive in a dynamic environment.

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Thank you for taking your time to read my post

Best Regards,

El-Nailul