Saw this article on The Guardian. They tend to be sceptical about cryptocurrencies in general, but I think this is probably a typical experience for those who dive into trading. It really is a wild west where fortunes can be made, but also lost. He throws in the standard slang about 'hodling' and 'lambos'. Personally I don't trade and I have no interest in a lambo. I've never been a gambler. I've played around with a few dollars in various coins, but nothing serious. The only real money I've made is in Steem that I have earned here and I'm very happy with that.
The markets are so volatile. The article talks about how coins get hyped by high profile figures who may later claim their Twitter was hacked. A few well placed tweets can cause a massive swing that will profit those involved. I note that the first comment I see on the article talks about it being a 'ponzi', but is it any more so than other types of market?
I'm sure plenty of you enjoy playing this game, but it's not for me. I just hope you don't lose more than you can afford. I hear about people borrowing to buy crypto, but that seems a dangerous game. The trends have been upwards for a while, but nobody really knows where it's going.
Steem is doing really well at the moment, but I worry that it's just speculation at the moment. We know it has real potential, but we need to see that materialise before the value should go up. The trends are good. The Alexa rank of the site keeps improving and Hypestat estimates almost a quarter million visitors each day. Word must be spreading. When it's possible for tens of thousands to join each day then it should really take off.
I'm sure the nature of Steemit will change as it grows. We've always had people begging for votes and follows. That is likely to continue. They don't realise you have to earn your rewards, but then they see others profiting with little apparent effort by exploiting the system in various ways. I saw one example today who just posts Youtube links with no extra text, but they can make several dollars on each. They are also transferring large amounts to Minnowbooster. Some of those don't have a link, so I don't know what they gets them. I see vote-buying as a problem when it's supporting such low quality posts. Support those doing something original and not just ripping off the work of others.
Respect the work of others. It's frustrating for them to see others profit from their work. I commented on that post about whether it's possible that we could somehow have an image library where we could allocate part of our post rewards to the photographers. I know it's possible to split the rewards. If I need images I use the Google search to find those with a permissive licence. Often that will be on Wikimedia.
I know I just used a load of Youtube videos in my last post, but I feel I added value to the post and Youtube has its own ways to reward creators. That said, a lot of videos on there are stolen and nothing seems to be done about that. Let's try to make Steemit a better model for creative people.
Steem on!
Update: Much as I like the Guardian as a newspaper they really don't get cryptocurrencies. They are not generally created as a purely speculative thing. They have real utility, but people will speculate on them.
I'll buy guitar picks for Steem Dollars
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The idea about making a technology that promoted quality content has been around for a long time - Slashdot's karma system for example.
Steemit has a strong libertarian ideology behind it and is a bit undecisive in what it has to achieve. I am of course interested in a platform that promotes quality blogging, but I also know that the hunt for money is a driving force in the way value is added to the network. I am here for the money myself at least partly (I am also here because I am interested in ways quality content can be monetised by the creator directly skipping the classical middlemen like record-companies, editors and gallerists). I think @felixxx wrote an interesting piece, but as everybody else I can only second guess what will work and I do think that no technology will force a community to behave in a special way - only the people involved can shape that - so like you I try to behave like a good citizen and upvote quality, but...
It's going to be interesting to see how it scales. Ned wields a lot of power, but doesn't seem keen to take action on abuse. I've seen reports on where Steem gets distributed by official accounts and some of that looks dodgy. It can all come back to haunt them
Great article Steve. Agree things are really volatile and lost money on some LTC thinking it was all going to go up. The trick lies in selling when its up and buying when its down. The trouble is predicting what is up and what is down. The best thing is to leave whatever crypto people buy alone and hope it'll be worth 10000 or 20000 in 4 years. Better chance than winning a scratch card IMHO. Alternatively write a self published book and rake it in.
I wonder about just buying some of a few coins using my Steem and just holding onto it. We just can't tell what will happen.
You are more advanced in knowing how to do stuff on steem. How do i even get my steem converted....?
You can sell it on various exchanges. I've used Blocktrades to get Bitcoin before. As you may have seen my Bitcoin-powered debit card has been killed off, so I need other ways to extract something I can spend. I know there's LocalBitcoins and others, but Bitcoin seems a poor way to go given the fees. I'm keeping an eye out for better alternatives.
You can trade bitcoin for euros on Coinbase. I assume you can bet the Euros to go to an account?
I've got a coinbase account, but I've heard it's hard to get your money out. I'll keep looking and see what others say
Every news report, or newspaper article, I have seen calls cryptocurrency a risky market. Really? Just like penny stocks or the stock market itself isn't risky.
What gets me is how all these news reports and articles quote financial advisors who have NO IDEA how cryptocurrency even works or what it is.
They automatically downplay the future advantages and the monetary risk and call it a bubble. Again.. the credit card, student loan, sublime auto loans and housing market aren't, or have never been, a bubble?
If these news reports would get a cryptocurrency expert to speak and quote then maybe the general public would understand it. BUT the big banks don't want their customers or investors knowing of the positive when it comes to cryptocurrency. SO let's hush it and create this negative view of it.
It's still a pretty new field and far more volatile than the markets they know about. I'll see a story about Bitcoin crashing in the paper, but it will already have recovered by then. Blockchain has great potential, but few of the coins have really justified their price with real applications, so there is an element of bubble to it. The boss of Ripple was richer than Mark Zuckerberg this week, but he can't point to billions of users of his product yet. I find it all fascinating, but don't feel the need to gamble much on it myself.
Agreed, there is much gambling in the crypto-space at the moment. And it will last, like speculation in Fiat will never stop.
The fascinating thing is the blockchain itself and there will be much good things coming out of it. Like , for example, Steemit.
I want to see Steemit meet its potential to change the lives of millions. It can empower those in countries where a few dollars can feed a family or pay the rent.
We should develop Steemit to a point where it can feed europeans too :)
It'll convert to Euros? Great, it'll be worth a lot of pounds! :)
I have not invested a single penny into steemit or steem; or any other cyrptocurrency. Everything in my wallet has been earned; which in all honesty is why I like steem/it so much. It is my hard work, diligence and dedication. If it goes up, I win. If it goes down, I'm upset of course, but I am not actually losing my own money from the bank account.
I bought a little Steem with Bitcoin I made on faucets and things, but the rest has been earned. I have spent some. I wouldn't have my new guitar without Steemit.
we influence others from doing and explaining the why, this is a good piece on doing so. super important lesson you put across to not use money you don't have or BORROWING for purchasing into these volatile markets. good advice!
Great article! I usually don't play "games" that involve coins bet, however last year the cryptocurrencies seemed a great opportunity to earn some money and I decided to try with just 200$ with the purpose not to spend a single additional penny. I read a lot and invested in some cryptocurrencies I found interesting such as ADA, SIA and so on. Now I've 10 times the "initial bet" and I think I will keep these currencies for at least one year without buying or selling and see what happens.
Regarding Steemit, I think that it is really important to introduce some methods to check posts quality! It's full of articles with nothing written, just a copy paste of a link or image which earn a lot of money. While other interesting articles get few votes. For example, I'm trying to start my E-Learning blog also on Steemit, but I always get less than 10 upvotes per post. I've not understood yet what could be a good strategy to make posts more visible and gain followers and upvotes thanks to the content quality, so that they don't get lost among all other useless posts.
I like steemit staff seems to take it's time and do things right, ofc idk for sure. Maybe it's traffic based but I and a friend of mine who tried to register, still couldn't get in. It's been months. I too am waiting for a approval of another account.
You can bypass the signup process with Anonsteem, Vessel and other tools. It just costs some Steem, but may be worth it
Interesting post Steve. I've gambled a little with spare change over the years but have always been cautious not to get drawn in.
My granddad had some success on the stock market many years ago. I say success, he turned a few pence into a few pounds as a hobby - he was in it for the long term though.
Many people seem to be into these things for a quick win these days. I like Steemit because the people and content interest me; it (like this post) will make me go away and maybe study something else or ask myself questions.
I think it really is a form of gambling. The successful people tend to do their research, but in both there can be manipulation behind the scenes. Gambling just isn't my thing
i like that steemit increasing and increasing, about price in my opinion its pumped because of smt , so people buy it more because they want to be first in smt rally. About youtube video abusers i reported around 300 of them to steemcleaners , but they cant downvote them because dont have permission from ned, i tried to msg to ned in telegram , but he is too busy no answer in 3 weeks and i think its too small of a problem to him, but i calculated they receive around 4k steem per day, if it continues they can receive more and more amount from reward pool . I even had idea to make spambuster account, but not sure how to find support and delegation .
I think Ned needs to take action if he wants Steemit to not sink into the mire
Good points. I am of a similar mind. Yes, sometimes it’s nice to boost a post for visibility, as a minnow without much steem power. But I hope people are mindful to do that for posts that offer a genuine value to their audience.
And yeah speculation is risky! It is a fun game for some, but I prefer the long game and to invest in platforms that have missions I believe in (such as Steemit).
I'm okay with minnows getting a little boost, but others are just exploiting it for maximum quick profit. That deprives others.
I have been trading and been pretty successful (so far) Steem has been rewarding also but i don't plan to power down any time soon all in all 2018 is shaping up to be a big year for cryptocurrency.
Good read and topical post. Every cryptocurrency post I've read in the media, even on the Estonian (home country) ones, are sceptical about crypto. And almost everytime it's only about BitCoin. In my opinion really one sided approach.
I have some friends that like to play on binance and they do ok. I have done it in the past but do not care much for it.
i am agree with this point of view
(Support those doing something original and not just ripping off the work of others.)
Yeh steemit is really good plat form and i am agree with you we should promote and support quality work on steemit
This article is fascinating...
I hate spams! To hell with everyone spamming and am not yet to spam.
we are happy ti earn some coin and make it real money, no need to gambling where we can stay here for safe.
the graphs are showing real growth of cryptocurrencies and it is really helpful.
Interesting post