I’m worried about a 50/50 split as I think it’ll encourage more curation based on who is popular and discourage whales from upvoting minnows even further when there is so much to gain from upvoting users who always make it to trending.

Possibly, but the very best curation rewards lie in spotting a post early - most whale posts are covered with auto-votes, which may change a little once the next fork arrives.

Just has a look at the #deadpool post, another awesome idea!

I'll add the discord to my list, I'm not that active there but will try to pop in when I can - thanks for the invite :)