Not true. I think @abit is the top investor in the top 19 witness list, and one of the top investors in all of Steem. He converted quite a lot of Steem Dollars (6 figures) into STEEM and most of it got powered up. Other witnesses such as @smooth and @blocktrades have powered up a lot of liquid STEEM that they could have otherwise sold on the market.
Witnesses have invested in Steem in other ways than money, too. There's generally a reason why someone gathers enough approval votes to be there.
90 % of the top 19 witnesses ?
Other ways ......... LOL its just ..... .Is not like they invest MONEY right ?
I forgot to mention, I invested around 0.3 BTC in STEEM in early May 2016 which was a good amount of bitcoin for me at the time. So yes I invested money too.
I find your criteria for what makes a good witness to be lacking. This post's premise isn't rational. Many of the masternodes for Dash were created with Dash (formerly Darkcoin) that was mined when it was easy. You don't have the whole picture, but you're talking as if you do.
Estimated Account Value
The estimated value is based on an average value of Steem in US dollars.
$16,259.53
The next power down is scheduled to happen in 3 days.
How you gather approval ? Exept you join very early and 1500 follow you ?
"Witnesses are generally voted for because they are trusted members of the community, positively contribute to Steem and Steemit in many ways"
Several top witnesses came to Steemit well after launch. It's more about community reputation, respect, ability and drive I think. You can become a witness rather quickly if you can bring those things to the table and follow through.
Community ............. i dont see here a community .
Community = The entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. It's rather large.