I saw this comment by @dantheman:
All orders are placed at or above price on coin market cap. These orders are helping to maintain the steem dollar peg.
Proceeds of these sales are kept as steem dollars which keeps value in the platform while helping to distribute steem.
It got me thinking. Like a lot of other people, I've been more than a little concerned with the direction things have been going lately... it was originally written as a comment to @dantheman, but it developed into something that was more appropriate as a post, and the message is something that I would like other whales to consider as well
I humbly ask that large stakeholders please consider the following...
Since Steem and Steem Dollars can only exist inside Steem accounts, it is a little ambiguous what you mean by "keeps value in the platform." I can only assume that it means the price of Steem would be driven down more rapidly if this Steem were to be dumped on an external exchange.... This begs the question whether even more value can be preserved by not dumping large amounts of Steem.
I'm not sure of the utility of "distributing Steem" when the price is declining as it has been. There would appear to be an abundance of Steem available for purchase at rates which would be very attractive if people had faith in the future of the platform.
I have seen it mentioned that you are planning on "redistributing" Steem across a larger spread of accounts by selling off large quantities of Steem from the largest accounts. On its face that seems like a reasonable goal, but I think it's probably not in the best interest of the platform or most users. The immediate effect is a sharp loss of value due to declining prices.
It has also been suggested that a lower price might entice new users and investors. I'd like to push back on that idea. Having some arbitrary number of tokens is less important to a prospective investor than the likelihood that they will retain or increase their value. While savvy investors and knowledgeable users will realize that the interest Steem earns is deflationary by nature, it is important to nurture an expectation that the overall value of accounts will be preserved... after all, in theory the price decline from dilution should be proportionate to the increase in the number of tokens. All else being equal, it shouldn't result in a loss of value.
Since it would only make sense to distribute it in order for it to be powered up and spread influence over a larger number of users, I think you have a much better option at your disposal... You can power down and hold liquid Steem, without driving the price down by dumping it on the market.
This would benefit a larger number of users, and strengthen the platform. It would prevent the loss of value that everybody is experiencing due to dwindling prices. It would also help normalize inflation, and result in slower dilution of SP balances. As we are above 95% vested, both SP and Steem balances are being diluted. Only the largest account holders have the ability to make the conscious decision to slow the debasement of the currency that we are experiencing from deflation alone.
While I don't want to deny you the right to "cash out," I think the financial interests of yourself and similarly situated account holders might be better served by holding liquid Steem and selling it more slowly. The loss of value through dilution would likely be far less significant than the loss of value from price declines, since it would only effect the liquid tokens... in fact, accounts across the platform would retain more of their value.
Powering down will result in a better distribution of influence, but selling the resulting Steem without an abundance of caution is a perilous game. Nobody wants to see the values of their accounts dwindle away to nothing. It is devastating for confidence in the platform and the currency. Existing users will be driven away and new users and investors will not want to join. I'd implore you and other high value accounts to take these things into consideration and limit the amount of Steem that you are dumping on the market.