Over the +2 years I have been on my own "journey" through this "virtual world" @tarazkp, this has always been clear:
"But, there is also the participation component to think about, where participation in a new industry is an influencing factor on the survival and solidification of that industry. All unused industries fail, so participation from the believers in the early days is what sees it through to mainstream usage."
In fact, it was why I went against my position I would never (wise to always be very careful with this word ...) have an online presence. I decided to understand the "use case" of being invested in Steem Hive and I am still here ...
What you make no mention of in this post is one additional component of any of us choosing to invest in our Hive blockchain. The so-called "second layer" options, like LEO, BRO, ARCHON, etc.
Prior to my choosing to power "down and out" on the Steem blockchain, I never had any discretionary funds to even consider wasting the time to look into these, as I always went with the "choir singing" that to powerdown was "bad." Always powering up everything was "good."
Only with the discretionary funds from my powerdown did I finally spend a little time to looking into these opportunities. Glad I did! My subsequent investment in them has been very satisfying!
So ...
Our choices are even more complex now. How much of our hard-earned $$s and time do we invest in the "base layer" Hive blockchain? And how much in the large and growing "second layer" options? More for us all to consider. Which, in the eyes of this one anyway, a good thing ...
!ENGAGE 20
Yeah, I wanted to avoid this for simplicity sake and as I see it, it is a component of investing into Hive - it is part of the use case.
Oh yeah - this is a huge part of it. I think that the Steem conversion allowed a few people to have a little bit extra "free funds" to experiment a bit with. Disposable income matters. I also think that making some income disposable requires changing the way we consume or at least exploring the potential we may or may not be wasting.
Base or second layer investment is an interesting question and I do not have a great answer. However, it is very much possible that a Second layer token outperforms the entire Hive blockchain in value - and can still leverage Hive for all its transactions. that is exciting in my opinion!
What this primarily required, for me (and by extension I suspect many others ...) at least, was simple. I needed to "break away" from the "choir singing" about what one must and must not do to be viewed as a "good soldier" here on our Hive blockchain.
I will not make that mistake again, as anyone choosing to look at my wallet now (vs. historically) will quickly discover ...
Everyone needs to find their own way here and in life. =)
ENGAGEtokens.