A quick status update after 196 days since the initial announcement of the Crowdfunded Whale Bot Project on Steemit. Things are continuing to build up step by step with more users joining and the voting power continuing to grow. Make sure that you read on the whole post as there are some changes and minimums introduced in how new users are accepted! There are already 177 people that support the project for the moment with no new users joining in the last day, the full list can be found below:

Users Supporting the Project So Far:

@cryptos, @maarnio, @bleujay, @justusagenstum, @beowulfoflegend, @ottodv, @steevc, @shadowspub, @sroka87, @kooshikoo, @bola, @inphiknit, @ausbitbank, @burnin, @ervin-lemark, @cryptomancer, @robotev, @beers, @elyaque, @richman, @benjojo, @pollux.one, @gregory-f, @dennygalindo, @dodders007, @ace108, @majes, @freebornangel, @anotherjoe, @kiwideb, @sonyanka, @ballinconscious, @cynetyc, @lennstar, @shiri, @lemouth, @shortcut, @boddhisattva, @bmwrider, @michelle.gent, @darthnava, @englishtchrivy, @phoenixmaid, @virtualgrowth, @graviton, @dragosroua, @cavemanrob, @rigaronib, @remlaps, @cmp2020, @bosjaya, @stranger27, @steemitrecipes, @meesterboom, @alitas, @d3nv3r, @sextant, @oliverstoney, @commenthunter, @screenname, @xardas, @bidnat, @lloyddavis, @merej99, @collabornation, @traducciones, @happiness, @digitalbrain, @baerdric, @steemjustice, @libertad, @pozitivityspace, @hopehuggs, @oleg326756, @shla-rafia, @wadepaterson, @exploretraveler, @pilgrimtraveler, @landofcrypto, @jdbry, @fiona777, @chessminator, @ats-david, @breezin, @matias-walkoski, @libertarismo, @juvyjabian, @dylanhobalart, @eroche, @moondancer762, @siniceku, @taskmanager, @pickoum, @lajulius, @smysullivan, @applecrisp, @contentjunkie, @ontofractal, @inertia, @bitcoinparadise, @carrinm, @thegame, @steemtg, @lightsplasher, @steemitguide, @kooshikoo, @countryinspired, @baracuda, @juanmiguelsalas, @orionvk, @nelyp, @steem42, @allmonitors, @unhorsepower777, @seisges, @mammasitta, @kennyskitchen, @writingamigo, @lpfaust, @royalmacro, @okkiedot, @steemychess, @knittybynature, @stephen-somers, @edb, @cardboard, @senseiteekay, @gringalicious, @jeff-kubitz, @sazbird, @nonameslefttouse, @timbo, @goldmatters, @vegascomic, @mmc1800, @twinner, @lydon.sipe, @justtryme90, @rmach, @fathermayhem, @steemawards, @steemitawards, @steemint, @steembriefing, @proglobyte, @kurtbeil, @yefet, @tingaling, @proglobyte-m1, @zentat, @letc, @eric-boucher, @beeskee, @platonicsironic, @germansailor, @triddin, @riskdebonair, @benjiparler, @ourlifestory, @dahaz159, @bkkshadow, @joshbreslauer, @okean123, @leongkhan, @smurrah, @lscottphotos, @awispa, @Wiser, @jaybird, @mikkolyytinen, @nepd, @wilbur, @caweyant, @getrichordie, @sandstorm, @yuriks2000, @allprowi

List of New Users in the Last Day:

No new users

The Steem Power of the @crowdfundedwhale is currently at over 8630 SP, so it is already at a pretty good level, but far from the goal of the project. Hopefully it will continue to grow steadily over time and now it is the perfect time to join and support the project with the low price of Steem. There are already some people that have donated more than once to the project and this is also helping a lot. Remember that you are the ones powering up the @crowdfundedwhale and the more power it has, the more it will give back to you as votes for your posts. The speed of growth after the initial good start has slowed down a bit, but things are still moving, even if it is a bit slow... it will take some time and effort, but we are going to get there eventually.

Delayed voting has been implemented to the bot code, so @crowdfundedwhale will now vote after about 30 minutes since the post has been published instead of about a minute delay like it was initially. This change has been made in order for the bot to be able to also get some curation rewards from the posts it votes on and use them to further grow its voting power.

How to Participate in the Project

You can get included in the list of authors the bot votes on if you:

Transfer the minimum amount of STEEM, or Steem Power or Steem Dollars to crowdfundedwhale

Send an amount of Bitcoin (BTC) that meets the minimums to the address: 1LCFwZTpTzHNfHSdsSfjptHUNee2JBFLcy

The BTC address above is from Blocktrades and will automatically convert anything received to it into Steem Power to the @crowdfundedwhale account, if you do sent Bitcoins this way make sure you drop a comment with the transaction ID, so that it is known who you are and you can be added in the list of authors.

The project is now more than a month old and with over 100 users, up until recently there were no minimums defined to join in the @crowdfundedwhale initiative, however as warned it is now time to add some in order for the continue growing and function as intended. Below you can see the new minimum amounts of STEEM and Steem Dollars required from new users to join, you are still welcome to send less than the minimum, but then it will just be considered a donation and it will not get you included in the list of users the bot votes back for!

Minimum STEEM to send to join @crowdfundedwhale: 100

Minimum Steem Dollars to send to join @crowdfundedwhale: 50

The future growth and development of the project also requires some additional rules to be set, some of these will happen along the way as a part of the project evolving and adjusting to the situation. The first such rule to be set is regarding the number of posts user makes, users that post more than 4 Blog posts per day may not be accepted in the project and some that are already included may also get excluded if posting too much per day. Since the voting bot has limited voting power available and it needs to be distributed among many users already, some limitations need to be enforced so that everything is fair.