There is but one possible reason I can ascertain why this would be implemented. I have brought up this issue previously and stated that "voting needed to be tied directly to a users SP" which I will explain in greater detail below. But first let me explain how the Voting/Steemit system currently works.
Every user on Steemit is given a small amount of Steem (Steem Power) when they join the site. That Steem is created from thin air, much like the Federal Reserve of the United States keeps "printing money" to cover our debts. The result of that is that it diminishes the value of the currency, in this case Steem. The same situation occurs every single time someone on Steemit.com up votes a post or comment. That money that is given as part of the up vote has to be "printed" or created from thin air.
As many people have noticed the value of Steem has dropped from over $3 USD a share to under $1 in the last two months. This is because of the massive influx of new users and increase in voting. Steemit, Inc. has been "printing new money" at a rate that far outpaced it's revenue (Users Powering Up) creating a devaluation of the currency.
As a result Steemit, Inc. has had to attempt to devise a method or methods to stem the devaluation of Steemit and attempt to bolster the currency and rebuild its value. They have continued to act like a Federal Reserve and continue to treat Steem (a digital currency) as FIAT (Paper/Coin Currency).
Modelling Steem after the Federal Reserve might have served a purpose in getting the Currency recognized and attracting attention to Digital Currencies. However, it is without a doubt time for them to rethink the Federal Reserve model and to revamp the way Steem is created and distributed.
Failure to abandon a Federal Reserve style FIAT currency structure will ultimately lead to the demise of Steem as a digital currency and Steemit.com as the distribution method for that currency.
There is however a solution, one in which I have posted multiple times on Steemit.com and in Steemit.Chat.
A solution that would require only minor changes to Steemit.com and should be fairly easy to implement on the Blockchain with a Hard Fork.
The solution is to tie Steem (Steem Power) directly to the users, or more specifically to their voting. In my version of Steem/Steemit all users would start with 1,000 SP. Then every vote would take away a small percentage of that SP (permanently). The only way to "rebuild your Voting Power - Steem Power) would be to Post and Comment and Earn Back the SP you spent on Voting. By utilizing an algorithm to determine Voting Weight Steemit, Inc. could also:
- Level the playing field by summarily reducing a users Voting Power as their Steem Power rose
- Ensure that no one person (even with multiple whale accounts) could control content
- Increase the voting power of the Minnows and Dolphins (who make up 99% of Steemit.com)
- Effectively redistribute the wealth (or at least the voting power) to the users who make steemit.
The algorithm would be relatively simple as well:
- If TOTAL_SP < 1000 then VOTE_WEIGHT = 1% of TOTAL_SP
- If TOTAL_SP > 1000 but < 5,000 then VOTE_WEIGHT = .5% of TOTAL_SP
- If TOTAL_SP > 5000 but < 10000 then VOTE_WEIGHT = .25% of TOTAL_SP
- If TOTAL_SP > 10000 but < 50000 then VOTE_WEIGHT = .125% of TOTAL_SP
and so on and so forth.
That would give more power to new users and unilaterally decrease the power of users as their account value grows. This would also have the effect of ensuring that new content creators have a fair and equal chance of being rewarded while also ensuring that power users do not routinely receive the majority of the rewards.