If it was "only a matter of time before a whale wrecked the market" (which I believe is true), then the team should have had a plan of how they intended to address the event. Much of the problem though already existed before jr6969 bailed and my understanding from is Discord that it was disagreement over economic issues that was the primary issue that led to him bailing (i.e. he was a speculator who was losing money, saw it continuing and figured that he should leave before he lost even more -- though I also believe that a bit of vengeance was involved in tanking the market so thoroughly).

I would have kept a number of card-burning alternatives in my back pocket to handle just such a foreseeable event. Indeed, look at the numerous suggestion posts that I wrote in January (although I was focusing more on the problem of newbie-hostility).