Yes, there's a very real chance it could degenerate into a Ponzi scheme and collapse on itself. If it does a lot of whales will lose a lot of money, and everyone will lose what could otherwise grow as a great community.

The best chance I see to avoid that is to educate people, particularly those who have the most to lose. We need the whales to unite to save their investments, and by doing so save the community.

I think in the long run we'll need both education and some protocol changes, but we can't get the protocol changes approved without the education anyway, so education is the place to start. Everyone needs to know that this doesn't have to be a Ponzi scheme, but that with enough shortsighted voting that's exactly what it becomes.