I still remember my very early days on Steem as if it was yesterday.
Lost...a stranger among thousands of users who knew about this place long before I did.
It was the 10th of January 2018 when I received that confirmation email that I could finally start integrating with the chain. Note that I applied almost 30 days prior to the arrival of that email...
I had almost forgot that I had applied till that very moment
You do even remember how overcrowded Steem was back then?
Chaos
Right in the middle of the previous bull-run.
Prices kept going up and up every single day...every hour...
Steem was sitting at $4.5 if my memory serves me well, while a few days back it had climbed all the way up to $8+...
Do you even remember the upvote values back in the day? And I ain't talking about those who had just joined Steem and the only thing in their wallets was those 15 SP delegated by Steemit, but for those that had already invested in Steem when price was as low as 7 cents during March 17'
A 100K SP holder could cast 10 x $45 per day.
A 1 mill SP holder...10 x $450 per day.
And that's with Steem sitting at $4.5....
That's some serious money right there...
Posts with potential payouts at the range of $500 or even higher was something very common...
But
Even if your post earned 100 dollars, and despite the fact that the reward system back then was 75% - 25% (author rewards - curators) what would end up in one's wallet -SP wise- was...
$75 / 2 = $37.5 SBD and $37.5 worth of STEEM aka --> $37.5 / $4.5 = 8.33 SP
So a $100 post would earn to the author 37.5 SBD and 8.33 SP.
WTF? How am I supposed to grow my account like that...? Not a chance...
But this party didn't last long enough...the bear market was right at our doorstep...
Prices starting declining...slowly...steadily...and painfully, for some.
For me and for everyone that was looking for a second chance to grow their accounts that bear market was more like a gift...a blessing if you will.
And so it started...
Showing up every single day...reading a lot...commenting a lot more...trying to be noticed..."Hey, I am here too ya know...check out my work..."
First milestone...500SP and I was officially a...minnow.
A few weeks later and my SP had 4 digits...
A little buying every now and then and a few months later I was a happy dolphin.
I had set a goal for 2020. To reach "orca status" before the end of the year.
But then...Justin arrived...and suddenly all hell broke loose...
No signs of communication between him and the community...
Misunderstandings...threats...and BANG! A Soft fork...
The rest is history...Steem was taken over in the most hostile way...and things are getting worse by the day...
That's how Hive came to life...and the moment of the snapshot I was holding ~35K SP.
I knew from the very first moment that Hive is the right path. Who wants a rich dictator to decide what is right and wrong after all? None that I can think of...well, a few maybe...
...Hive launched and price wise, it even outperformed the "original" chain. That was unheard of in the crypto world....But Justin wouldn't let us go away with it, right?
So he started dumping HIVE tokens left and right to drive HIVE's price down while at the same time he keeps purchasing STEEM just to keep STEEM above HIVE on the rankings...foolish...(I'll make a special post about it)
Besides, everyone was eligible for the HIVE airdrop (there are a few exceptions of course) as long as they had STEEM in their wallets on the exchanges that would honor the airdrop.
Nah..I wouldn't miss a 10 cents bargain this time. So...a couple of hours ago I powered up all the HIVE tokens I bought the last 2 days and I am officially a happy orca :P
You couldn't care less, I know, still, I enjoy it and it's also a proof that I am here for the long haul...
Besides...that was the Steem plan all along.
But you know what? Without Justin attacking Steem you wouldn't be holding HIVE right now...and I definitely wouldn't have reached my goal.
Who knows...if he keeps doing this he might be the reason that new HIVE whales will pop up...
All it takes is him, keep dumping his HIVE and us, keep killing our STEEM to purchase more HIVE.
Next stop...whale status(?) Meh...kinda hard to get there...but you never know...
Have a good one peeps...and stay safe.
Image
Cheers.
Beast mode!
Ha! 💪🏻💪🏻 Damn...never thought I'd get that far.
Congratulations. I am impressed. I am also hoping to make it Orca by the end of 2020 🤞. I feel that although things have been shook up quite a bit, there is a real unique opportunity to increase my holdings a lot. I had even hoped the Steem power down time would be lowered to facilitate things, but now that the Steem price is above the Hive price it’s actually a better time to use Steem to buy Hive. I hope to join the ranks of Orca also, soon.
Your spirit is so much higher and more positive then When I first read your post about the economy of Greece over a year ago and I think it’s the success you have enjoyed here on Steem, which makes sense because your writing is very good and the expression of your talent and the feedback you get here is such a powerful reward, even at 10 cent Hive rewards and the reward from the community is very uplifting. I have found the emotional uplift I get here spills over into the rest of my life and has made me stronger and wiser, reading, learning and writing.
Shortsegments, here 24 moons and counting.
Thanks so much for your kind words buddy. Probably the best comment I've had in a long while.
Welcome to the "club". Congrats man.
Hehe...still in this club? I thought you'd be a whale by now :)
Thank you mate. Hope you and your fam are safe
Well done..! In about two weeks, I'll be a dolphin, thanks to the Asian guy... greetings from Venezuela!
Thanks my friend! Greetings from Greece!
Wow congrats man! I do love the idea of documenting your power ups! When you become a whale someday, you can come back and read where the spark really started! Good Luck!
Thanks mate. Not that it really matters, it’s just a “reason” to keep pushing.
Congrats on your new milestone.
My goal is to become a dolphin in 2-3 months. Hopefully, I achieve that.
Thank you my friend. I am sure you’ll get there sooner than you think you will. 😊
Absolute legend!
Relate so much to this story, but I got lucky lol Only took me 2 days to get my Steem account lol
Seriously though, what an accomplishment! I remember it well, thinking how the hell am I even going to get to 5,000 SP...
And here we are!
Congrats man....Looking forward to joining you as soon as some of these powerdowns come my way!
#NewOrcas lol
Ha! Love that tag. Should we run an initiative to trigger people? That would be fun...and beneficial
Oh I'm good to go LOL #NewOrcas it is lol
Sweet. I ‘ll hit you in discord
At this rate all of us will become an orca soon
Ha! Wouldn't that be awesome?
of course it will!
I like your positive attitude about the whole story and well done with the big fish gong.
You stuck it out and you deserve it!
Congratulations!
Thank you for your kind words.
Long live Hive!
Only a pleasure and we reached dolphin status a while ago, but I think that it will take another 3 years until we can approach the ocra status.
Patience and hard work my friend.
Congrats once again.
Congrats my man. Long term journey it is.
Thank you bud. It will be bumpy...but what the hell...we are used to it
Congratz, I celebrated my dolphinhood yesterday!
Nice! Feels good doesn't it?
You bet, and I plan to get to 15000 HP pretty fastly!
Gongrats @mindtrap, well deserved!
I myself reached Dolphinhood today after buying some cheap 0.08$ Hive!
First one of many goals I guess?
Of course. I must get to 10k before summer ends and I have a feeling I'll be much sooner than I think.
Very happy and proud of you.
You are proof that persistence and passion never fail.
:) Stay safe!
Thanks so much sweetie.
Stay safe as well
Congrats.
Thanks.
You are living my dream right now. I bought up 650 Hive from the dip and looking forward to getting my power down to pick up another 100+ hive. Looking forward to hitting Orca status but first let me get that dolphin.
Hope to see your curation initiatives @mindtrap and congratulations.
Patience and commitment is the secret sauce bud.
Thanks. I appreciate the motivation. I will get there eventually.
You’ll get here mate. Trust me on that. Blogging only is the hard way but you’ll enjoy it more
wow wow wow congrats man!
Hey, thank you!
Like I said on Twitter, this is totally awesome! This kind of choices is what gives a lot of value to this platform! The reward will be the great future of HIVE!
This kind of things will be remembrad when HIVE reach 10$ and more!! Keep growing! Good vibes and blessings from Venezuela!
That👆
Congrats :)
Thanks!!🤟🏻
Wh00p! Love it :D Congratz. Numbers can be magical. Glad you took the plunge ;-) Cheers new Orca on the Block!
😀 Thank youuu!
Your addict friend
Damn, that's awesome! Congratulations. :)
Thanks so much bud!
Congrats man. Hope to catch you soon 😀
Waiting for ya bud!
Good shit, I'm still on tripod (30k) but then again, I'll always be one if you catch my drift 😉
😃🔥
Great achievement! And so the journey to Double Orca begins!
Damn...is there such a thing as double orca??
Why not! It would be a useful target perhaps!
Congratz! I guess everyone is taking the chance to load some cheap hive atm. Just powered up 3200 HIVE and I know the feeling.
Thanks mate. Feels good eh?
Feeling like:
The unexpected can open doors toward something like Hive. :)
Oh yeah
💗felt congratulations, mindtrap :D 🐳 🥂😎🚀🥇
Thanks suntree
congrats!!
I thank the SPUD movement for pushing me to throw down some money here and there..
Thinking of running an initiative to push towards that goal soon
Some nice deals out there right now. Welcome to the power up party.
Cheers!
Oh I am pretty sure that we are about to see more of these posts the following days...Thanks mate!
We need new names for these animal statuses. You're not an Orca on Steem. You're a _________ on Hive.
Lol...why you didn’t say this earlier??😇😝
https://peakd.com/hive/@shanghaipreneur/7-000-hive-we-need-new-animal-names-specific-to-hivers
Ta da!
Hi! Congratulations! I'm light years away from that but I'm excited about your story, it encourages me to stay here :)
Thank you. I am light years away from whales too. All it matters to me is the process. If we keep enjoying this then success will be the only outcome of this
This is a fun post to remember what it was like during the bull run! Thanks for sharing.
Trying to not forget how this whole thing started
Welcome to the club.
pssst, there's no sex in the champagne room...
Damn...really? So why the heck am I powering up?
Good to have you here mate
💪💪💪💪 Awesome, congrats but soon you will find yourself wanting more, the thirst is real!
I want more already :(
You joined the same date I did! (10th Jan 2018)
A lot has happened here.
I don’t remember (or appreciate) those high value days as much because I knew nothing about crypto, prices and how its all connected.
I just been posting steadily about my work in video production and using it as a simple blog that grows.
I remember seeing the price at 80 cents and feeling unsure of where it would go. That felt very low as it was.
Oh how we had no idea!
Anyway, great to read your story and got me thinking back about mine too :)
Well done on the Orca status!
lol...really? We'll celebrate it together next year!
Congratulations bro !
Thanks mate!
50K HP, that is pretty nice👌 Congrats! Just keep powering down your Steem and hope that Justin keeps that price up, while he tries to dump Hive price.
At some point Justin will capitulate, investors will recognize that dumpster fire for what it is, Steem will lose ⚰ and Hive will start the moon voyage 🚀
Things look pretty bad ...on the other side...
I'm trying to buy #hive too, this is the perfect time grow up.
That
Congrats man! I am about to make the same sort of post. Awesome milestone!
Ha! Feels great to grow stronger man. Thanks!
BOOOOM !
nice one @mintrap ! 👏
the beginning of your story looks a bit like the way I lived it, strange echo 😂
... but, you went way far ! I'm already going to arrive at 10K of HP, but I keep the 50K in visual, but it might take me some time to get there !
Bravo again ! Keep your good work up !
Thanks bud, I am pretty sure you'll get there fast!
you're welcome !
I hope so !
🏔
Congrats my man. You're doing well
Thanks mate!
great mate, you're following a good vision of descentralization, when i sawed all this happening i knowed too this is the right thing to do, right now im doing my part onboarding good content creators cause i now music, art in general and permaculture would be the reason of the proyects that gonna be the reason why we could trust about hive, real social impact, great to see you around, orcas and whales are supporters of good moves that could make people aware of cryptos trough art.