I'm not suggesting the insiders are doing it purposely to devalue the price. I just meant that they're dumping massive amounts of Steem, and the outcome has been a price crash (suppression). Not necessarily manipulation. The reason they're doing it slowly over time is because doing it at once would completely devalue the price and collapse the market (their stake is that large). Doing it slowly ensures they get maximum profits (even though the price naturally declines throughout this process).

But as for your question why they might be suppressing it.... you've heard about stocks being manipulated lower, so that some large buyer can make a massive purchase, haven't you? I think even Soros and Buffet invest that way. You've heard about big banks (or even countries) manipulating the price of physical gold lower, to make a massive purchase (transfer of wealth), right?
So that kind of thing happens in other parts of the economy. Why not in a crypto?

And you've heard about corporate takeovers? I'm not well versed in the corporate world of business, but I believe that sometimes companies will have their stock value driven down so that another company can purchase them at a discount.

You asked! :p