Isn't a reduction of the power down time going to increase the sell pressure even more? Why would whales who were still powering down even at a price as low as 10c / STEEM (which suggests they aren't having much faith in the project and trying to get as much out as possible as soon as possible) suddenly turn around when they now have the opportunity to exit in as little as 3 months? With the power down period reduced 8x, you would need the number of whales powering down to be reduced 8x too just to keep the same sell pressure as today.
The solution isn't to restrict selling, but to increase the demand for buying. If you are locked in a cage you cannot wait to get out. Remove the lock and all of a sudden you feel comfortable. Now look at it from the perspective of someone looking to get in the cage. They are more likely to enter if they are not afraid of getting trapped. Also don't think of individual whales, but massive numbers of smaller minnows and dolphins.
The way to increase demand for buying is simple: reduce price. Changing the Power Down rules is an ex post facto action which economically harms those who have already Powered Up in reliance on the two-year period because it impairs the obligation of contract. As explained in the whitepaper, there are reasons for the two year period of reduced liquidity (a characteristic of the good bought) in exchange for greater influence on the platform.
As we can see from this example, 2 year power down or any (non-liquidity) or economic rules can and will be changed when the majority of stakeholders find it economically convenient. This means we cannot take seriously any current or future rule set in Steem code which governs any economic aspect of Steem. This means all signs and signals on our accounts such as $ amounts or "wealth" which can be considered an outcome of a current figment of code, can be changed at any given time in the future so can we really say we know what anything is worth when it's held in a smart contract?
Steem power allows you to vote, that's the only reason it exist. A smart contract lock is necessary to prevent double voting. You should not power down because steem is one of the rare cryptocurrency that has intrinsic value, you can't participate on the platform if you don't have it. You seems to think that steem power is the thing, but steem power is merely steem that are powered, the real thing is steem the crypto which will be very valuable in the future as the platform gets better.
source @ https://steemit.com/steem/@dantheman/steem-economic-changes-update#comments
