it's gambling, that's why they call it whales :) but i'm sure the sharks will tell you it's because of the huge waves they make , heh ... maybe the benefit in contests like these is the data mined , not the bit of cash they spend (if at all due to the fees they take on every tx ... i doubt they will leave the fees for the duration of the contest - someone here mentioned fees already i see and yes indeed)

and then i wonder and always have

how is an 'offline wallet' tool keeping you safe if the data is inevitably linked 'IN'to the chain (or it wont be there) but i keep weird notions all the time :)

(dont wait up, im more than a month behind on replies, im sure ill get back to it someday)