sheesh...if true I call 'scam' as well or pyramid scheme is more apt...(new money drives price up because old money used and/or can't get spent)
Why would it be a scam just because of that?
As an investor, I like that feature. It creates more long term stakeholders. The more people that are vested in the success of the coin the better, and as you said... there is less downward pressure on the market which means it takes less new money to drive the price up. To me those are good things not bad things, but I do understand some people may not like being locked in for a year or more. That is how I invest in cryptocurrencies anyways... long term investments, so it doesn't bother me I guess.
Just saying this is how a pryamid scheme works. Once Money is in you can play with 1/2 say. But rest is locked in to be used to inflate and promote new money to come in. It all works quite well like cloud mining UNTIL new money is to little to pump this flywheel. Then both new and old money lose when all withdraw at one time when they realize this. It is classic if not a pump and dump a pump and crash.