And it feels...
...
I'm not sure how to express it.
I don't want to get melodramatic or descend into histrionics. People have been powering down STEEM since its been available to do so. I am one in tens of thousands, if not hundred of thousands who have and probably will do it. For some of you, it's been a means by which you keep food on the table and lights overhead.
I just didn't expect to be doing this so soon, let alone now, when STEEM is still very low in price, and who knows if it will ever rise again. There are many here on HIVE who don't think it has a chance. There are others who still think STEEM will rise again, and outperform the rebel HIVE that split off. Then, there are others, like me, who would rather both platforms did well, at least for the next 12 or so weeks, as our power downs continue.
Originally, I wanted to live off my rewards. When that quickly became a non-starter, I decided I was in it for the long haul, and that I wouldn't power down unless STEEM hit certain amounts and held, the least of which would be $1 USD. Then the crypto winter hit and where $1 and higher had already been achieved, STEEM floundered below $1 for longer than it stayed above it. So, long haul became far more than the two years and three months I've been on STEEM.
So, here I am, feeling I'm not sure how, but still feeling like I should figure it out, if for no one else, at least for my own benefit.
How To Describe It?
Those who have done this without really wanting to will probably understand this the best. The rest of you will probably wonder what my problem is and tell me to get over it.
Well, at this point, I don't think I can, nor do I think I want to. I want this feeling to last, actually, however it unravels, because I don't want to take this moment, or the next 12 to come, lightly. It needs to mean something.
Maybe that's it. I need a sense of worth—that I didn't just waste my time on STEEM, only to move to another platform and while not exactly starting over, feeling some elements of that. I've been starting over a lot over the last several years, and maybe there's more of that to come. I should just get used to it. Let it go.
I'm not ready to. I don't do things like this solely for fun. There's a future to build that is at stake here, and since I'm in my middle age, my opportunities to get it right are thinner than they used to be 10, 20, 30 years ago. I'm starting to feel the clock ticking, something I don't think I've really felt before. I've always been relying on the fact that there was always more time. Now I'm at a point where I don't think I have too many more opportunities to waste.
No, I don't think I'll be dying anytime soon, even if the coronavirus gets me. But I do have a healthy sense of my own mortality, even though life can still be what I make of it. Unbounded optimism does not describe where I'm at very well at all, but neither does unbridled pessimism. I'm somewhere in between, with my head in the clouds and my feet being firmly planted (for the most part) on the ground.
So, like it or not, understand it or not, this is a big deal. I'd rather not be alone in this, either. I'd rather that it hurt at least a little bit for others, too, because that gives it all a sense of meaning and purpose.
Not Just A Means To An End
I came to STEEM for a few reasons, I stayed because of many more, including buying into the whole idea that one day, it could be the global digital currency that upsets economies and governance as we know it.
When that dream was increasingly dashed from the events that followed the acquisition of Steemit Inc. by Justin Sun, and the hard fork to create HIVE was announced, it became pretty clear to me that for all its promise, it would now take a miracle for STEEM to overcome its very founding, its inner demons and fumblings since, and its essential takeover, regardless of who you point the blame at.
I don't like giving up dreams. I've given up more than I care to count or share. Like opportunities, I don't know if I have that many more I can ultimately fulfill. I'd like to see this whole decentralization thing realized before I die. It will probably take a while, if it can actually happen at all. Is within 30 years too soon? How about 40? I don't think I have too much more beyond that.
Now What?
Blocktrades has been announcing left and right over the last few days improvements to the site's interface, reopening STEEM/SBD for trading, and adding HIVE pairings. I've checked to see what I could get for my 900-plus newly liquified STEEM and I find myself in a dilemma. It's not a 1:1 conversion like the airdrop was because as of now, HIVE is trading on Bittrex at $0.22-plus USD, while STEEM has been bouncing between $0.16 and $0.19-ish USD. This moment, it's a smidge below $0.17, or over 5¢ less than HIVE.
Part of me thinks that's cool. HIVE has some oomph behind it straight out of the gate, while STEEM has been treading water mostly since the hard fork.
The other part of me, the one that wants to get a good deal for my STEEM so I can ultimately build up my HIVE faster, doesn't think it's so keen.
But do I wait, rooting on STEEM in the interim (and over the next 12 weeks), or do I hope HIVE does even better, because being the latest kid on the block with promise attracts attention before the new shine glitter wears off.
Give into FOMO, or HODL for a little while?
Or as someone counseled, get as much as I can into Bitcoin, presumably before it surges again, whenever that is. Before the halving? How far before?
That's just it. No one knows, except maybe those who push the market in the first place.
The Good Thing About All This
One way or another, things work out. Maybe not the way I want, but generally for my good. Right now, I'm liking the idea of 23,000 HP/SP (over 24,000 before the first power down happened). That puts me close to halfway to an orca, if those things still exist on HIVE.
So, while I'm not taking any of this lightly or for granted, and while I'm taking the time to record the event now, I'm still hoping for that future I started on STEEM, and feel I will ultimately depend on HIVE to realize.
I think it's good that STEEM and HIVE for the time being have some semblance of competition. HIVE and its associated dApps seem to be hard at work to push the boundaries while STEEM claims to be doing something. No hard fork yet, though, and Steemit.com has been more down than up the last few days (today being more of an exception).
But really, other competitors for STEEM haven't been close because they've lacked what HIVE has so far—developers, a greater portion of the community, and for the time being, the eyes of the greater cryptosphere watching. Maybe both platforms can push each other to be better. That might provide the motivation that's been lacking, and something that might help the HIVE team keep going beyond the initial push away to prove itself.
See? I can find silver linings. But I know it's still early days and there's much more work to be done, and inevitably, more time needs to pass for HIVE to establish itself.
In the meantime, I will continue to do what I think is best for me, and then do it, even if it leaves me a little—something—in the process.
Onward and upward.
Image source—steemitwallet.com
I didn't think of that, i can almost be an instant equivilant dolphin on hive chain. I even made my very first ever crypto transaction today, and sold 10 steem and got 8 Hive for it. I was and still am pretty excited that I did that. I know it blasted my 5 year steem plan out the door, but I can adapt, I can change, and I can make a now road if I want to. I still have not decided full yet if I want to power down or not. I might do it for a week, and then stop it.Just so I can buy some more Hive tokens. That Ionomy place was pretty simple to do.
Hey, @bashadow.
You are now officially a crypto trader. :) Or whatever they call it.
I think a lot of us with long term plans are re-evaluating them, simply because conditions on the ground change. And while some of it, for me at least, such as—where are STEEM and HIVE ultimately going to go—is still very much up in the air, having two diverging opportunities to get it right, well, that's better than banking on just one.
I wish you well with whatever you end up doing regarding STEEM or HIVE. I don't think it's an easy decision, though for some it appears to be. Too much time invested in one, and enough uncertainty still on the other, to really know.
I just do not want to do a knee jerk reaction. It has not even been a week yet. Some people have a lot of money, Hive is being sold and bought on exchanges, and even though there is a 30 day witness vote period, time can pass pretty quickly. Both may far exceed expectations, and both may fall flat on their faces, I am sure it will be somewhere in the middle for both of them. I don't really enjoy taking a wait and see attitude, but I also do not want to be part of a panicked herd mentality.
I will primarily be posting on Hive for now, still casting votes on steem, and powering down my alt account and letting my steem community page continue to do what it has been doing, nothing.
I think at this point, it's tough to be in knee jerk territory. We've seen firsthand what Sun is capable of and to what lengths he's willing to go (poked into it or not). In spite of whatever brilliance he might have, letting STEEM be STEEM doesn't appear to be high on his to do list.
Though, I note that he hasn't changed the 13-week window yet, even though it would benefit his exchange pals greatly to do so. Either he can't because he doesn't have the expertise to pull it off, or he sees the exodus coming.
Sorry to hear about your community. It's hard to believe, but we're still in early days for those, too. Seems like months instead of weeks. :)
I only made it so I would know how they work anyways, part of helping the testing group out to see what issue I would experience. It was kind of fun, and now I know a bit more of how they work, I may try to get it started up on here, I actually made a post on it the other day, so my community page does have one official type post.
Hi Glen,
Since my intention was to be in steem for the long term, I didn't get to find out how to convert my Steem to cash. Say if I need some money urgently, and I have some steem, can I really convert the steem to cash? I guess some processes are involved. If it is not too complicated, do you mind Telling me how? But if it is complicated, then forget I asked.
Cheers!
Hey, Vincent:
I guess it depends on your definition of complicated.
The main thing would be having access to an exchange or exchanges. STEEM, as far as I know, doesn't have a whole lot of fiat pairs. I've seen KRW, so that's the only one I can speak of with any level of certainty. In that case, STEEM/KRW can be traded directly.
If the cash system you use is available on an exchange, then that will be the one you will want to use. Otherwise, you're looking at a two-step process to get to it because STEEM will first have to be converted to a cryptocurrency that has your fiat pairing.
In my case, I've used Coinbase to go from USD to Litecoin, and the Blocktrades to get to STEEM. Both exchanges have their sign up requirements, which includes some level of proving identity, etc.
So, is it complicated? If you're used to signing up for things online, probably not. If you avoid doing that for the most part, it could be. And rules have seemingly changed from two years ago so there could be more or less to it than when I initially set up mine.
The hope is, at some point, that more fiat to STEEM or fiat to HIVE pairings will become available like BTC and ETH. That, besides STEEM and HIVE doing well, may also require time and maybe resources, too, since I'm not sure how that listing process works.
I know you said to forget it if it were complicated, but I figured you should at least get some kind of worthwhile answer. :)
Hi Glen,
Thank you for your reply. You are an angel.
Oh boy! IT IS complicated. I will wait for another easier way around that. I never heard of KRW. I tried to open a coinbase account sometime ago, but it was a no-go - something about my credit card company do not support buying of crypto-currency, or something to that extend.
Why is life so difficult? Why is life so harsh to me. I think I will go jump off a cliff. haha..
There is quite a bit of hoop jumping to do, I'll agree. More steps than there should be, but I think that's the problem of trying to bridge two systems, the old fiat way and the new crypto blockchain. The one doesn't want to let go nor let the other make grounds, so governments are trying to dictate how you buy in. And depending on where the exchanges are, they live by the rules set in their country and then abide by those set in the countries of their users. I think Coinbase is based in the UK.
I had Coinbase tell me the same thing. It had to do with the company that manages the transactions of our accounts, which isn't the bank, apparently, but some other company. I'm told they're the ones who won't allow me to use a card, so things come straight out of my checking account, but there's a seven day wait first. Really dumb, and hard to plan in advance.
KRW is the South Korean Won. Not sure how its listed elsewhere.
Thanks again. I will see how it all pans out in the future. :-)
I have to tell you I can imagine how you must feel. You more than anyone else I've seen have put your heart and soul into Steem. I'm sorry this all went down the way it did. It did hurt a little to convert my Steem to Hive but I am ready to move on. I know that's easier for me to say that it is for you as I have been disengaged from Steem for so long.
If you plan to eventually convert all your Steem to Hive I might suggest doing the conversion weekly as you get your powerdowns paid out. That way you may reduce the risk by dollar cost averaging through it. I think Hive has a much better chance of going up than Steem.
If you are considering alternative investments I think Bitcoin and Ethereum are good.
Hey, @bbrewer.
You know me all to well, sir!
That's a good idea as far cost averaging things. I guess I should have started doing that as soon as the STEEM came available.
As far as going to BTC or ETH, I guess I can do that with Blocktrades, right? Keep it simple, since there's Coinbase doesn't have a STEEM pair and I don't think it's back up and running on Bittrex yet.
I've only dabbled a little in this token trading stuff. Very low risk. Bitcoin seems more bigtime. And I guess it takes forever compared to STEEM for it to transact? What about ETH? Is it slow too?
Both are much slower than we are used to with Steem and Hive, and EOS for me, and have some fees that are no fun to pay. I'd only do it if you want to hold them long term. I am starting to dig Blocktrades as that is what I used to convert Steem to Hive. It was super easy. I think I will be using it more going forward and think it would work good for BTC and ETH.
I have been selling my liquid Steem for BTC and now im waiting for a drop in HIVE to buy. Im in no hurry. If the drop never happens I can still hope for a rise in BTC.
At this point my main worry is that Steem just tanks. Im not going to bet on a JTron pump.
Hey, @bluerobo.
Yeah. That's pretty much my concern, too. STEEM has been pretty resilient, and I can't believe it's only been because of the on chain accounts hodling, since there's been plenty of powering down and selling off going on there for as long as I've been here. I guess we'll really see what's here and where it's going as the power downs continue.
As for BTC, I've been thinking about getting some. I'm just not that great at trading, and while only a very few is ever going to know with any level of certainty, some people's timing is just so much better than mine. I just don't have the right stuff. :)
I just see it as parking value in something that cant be affected by JTron.
Has nothing to do with trading ;)
Then Im going to sit on it. That simple.
If HIVE drops low I will exchange it for that, if not, I just keep my BTC for the forseeable future.
Rather convinced to power down whereas before I was having a wait & see stance, well-explained thanks.
Hey, @globetrottergcc:
I had a wait and see stance up until HIVE went live. Then, for some reason, it just kind of clicked, and I hit the power down button. But when the first payment arrived yesterday, I didn't like it. :)
Funny thing is, I wasn't attempting to help anyone really decide one way or the other, but rather try to share the feelings and the experience. I really don't envy anyone who finds it a hard decision, because I think it is.
I have exactly the same feelings as you. To sell for Bitcoin and wait a couple of months - it seems to me the best option.
Hey, @russia-btc.
Yeah. It may very well be, especially with what's coming up for BTC very soon, and the current state of the world.
As it is, I'm mostly wanting to keep the integrity of my STEEM investment while getting the most I can out of HIVE. Tricky proposition, I think. :)
I intend to observe the further development of events so far - there is no need to rush )
maybe a hornet
Hey, @swamiva.
Talk about downsizing. :) It will be interesting to see as arcange moves the equivalent of steemitboard over to HIVE (if, when—guess I haven't seen definite plans but he also didn't rule it out after the delegation withdrawal on STEEM by Steemit Inc.), as to what he chooses. As someone else said on a post or comment (been reading more lately with the time I have and I don't remember who or where), the water life terms are probably so ingrained in our community psyche that changing them would be tough, especially since the term whale is a broader crypto term.
But anyway. As far as bee sizes go, hornet is probably up there. :)
)))
More posh proof.