If we want cryptocurrency to replace fiat, we need to move towards treating it like it already has - especially on Steemit - instead of continuing to value crypto in fiat terms. While the answer to my question (as some people have already pointed out) is fairly obvious, this is more of a thought experiment than anything else, so bear with me here.
The symbol above is one that almost all of us should recognize. It's the symbol of Bitcoin, the grandaddy that started them all and the anchor to which all cryptocurrency is tied (Satoshi be praised).
We know it, we love it (except when the price drops for no apparent reason), and we want it, and coins like it, to take over the world and become the new gold standard.
Of course, this won't happen until that symbol, and all the ideas and values attached to it, are accepted and recognised in the public consciousness.
Steemit, by attracting more users from outside the cryptocurrency world, is one of the best initiatives that can help us to achieve that noble goal. But in order to see the change, we must be the change. There's a psychological shift that needs to take place, and it can (and should) start right here.
This means starting to talk about money as cryptocurrency (and vice-versa), rather than converting it back to dollars.
Those dirty, dirty dollars
I can't help but find it strange that on a platform that ostensibly champions cryptocurrency, the symbol we see thrown around the most is the dollar sign. It's below every post, and holds equal footing with Steem itself on everyone's wallet page.
It's as if we're reluctant to (almost literally) put our money where our mouth is, instead treating it like our favourite problem child by putting its pictures up on the fridge (even if they're shit), but stopping short of actually framing them.
But is it art?
It's obvious that Steem as a currency is not well-known or stable enough to be used as an objective measurement of monetary value just yet (if there even is such a thing), but Bitcoin is steadily getting to that point. Within the next decade (if not sooner), we're going to see a significant increase in the ways we can use Bitcoin (and, hopefully, Steem) for everyday purchases.
We need to attach real-world value to cryptocurrency automatically if we want to push it further into the mass market.
Surely, if we want to be able to buy groceries and gas and whatever else with cryptocurrency instead of fiat, we need to start thinking and talking about it in the same way, and that means referring to the value of things - including (and especially) Steemit posts - in cryptocurrency terms by default. To this end, instead of saying that a post made $350, why not say 0.5 BTC? In a perfect world, don't we eventually want to be able to do the same with the value of a car or a loaf of bread?
Now, I realize this is not a practical suggestion at this stage, for many reasons. Admittedly, the implications of doing things this way right now would just force people to convert to dollars anyway to get a proper sense of the value their cryptocurrency has in the real world, so it's unlikely to be adopted anytime soon. But it's an interesting thought experiment nonetheless, and one that shows the importance of making a psychological shift if we are to make an economic one further down the line.
This is sort of a needless post in my opinion.
We show $ amounts here to help ease non-crypto users into the crypto ecosystem. Without that conversion and display of steem dollars we see now, adoption rates would be abysmal. And we'd just have a bunch of neckbeards sitting on here circle jerking about how great crypto is.
Now, that being said. Your article was pretty well written. Have an uptugg
@calva upvote
I appreciate your directness (and your vote). As I mentioned, the answer to my question is pretty obvious, but the intention of my post was to get people thinking about the implications of continuing to value crypto in terms of fiat on a psychological level, and the need to change that if we want it to succeed.
Ah, Put that way I agree with you.
However most people aren't ahead of the curve like us with non-fiat currency.
because we believe in adoption, and a new user is familiar with dollar.
So do I, which is why I'm not suggesting that gets changed anytime soon. It's important to consider the way we think about and value crypto in relation to fiat, though.
How about both. The advantage of this platform is it brings those who don't know cryptocurrency to buy their first Bitcoin and opens their first wallets. We need dollar post values until we hit 100m users then we can switch. In the meantime both!
This I can get behind.
I get your point. There are good and bad sides to it. Not using it is like holding back on our adaption and being conversant with it. Using US dollars is welcoming to a lot of newbies, which we need. We don't want to drive them away with satoshi number madness :D
Of course. Perhaps the balance could be more in favour of crypto though. At the moment it feels like things are a bit dollar-centric, at least on a surface level.
I agree the balance should be more in favor of crypto. To satoshis and beyond! Great post by the way :)
Thanks! May Satoshi be with you.
Cuz we have a dollar denominated currency and people think in dollars. Next question?
That's exactly my point, and something we'd ideally like to change. Did you even read the post?
Yes, why not change to crypto currency instead of $$$. Please...
WE are crypto fans, and we would love to have balance in BTCs or STEEM.
But maybe for other people, USD can be easier to understand and accept (even though they are not real dollars).
I agree, which is why I said that this is more of a thought experiment than a practical suggestion (for the time being). I do think it's important to be aware that a psychological shift of this kind will be necessary at some stage though.
Of course it will be necessary. Still many people think cryptocurrency is "virtual money" and fiat money is "real money", while we may say exactly the contrary
It won't happen for quite a while. The value of any particular crytocurrency is way too unstable at this point in time. You can say you have 10 bitcoins, but most people will have no idea how much that is actually worth. And even then, it could be radically different the next day.
For people who work for the Bitcoin foundation (or whoever maintains the Bitcoin infrastructure), their salaries are listed in USD, but they're paid in the current market equivalent of Bitcoin. No change is going to happen until the crytocurrencies have a history of stable value.
You're right of course. I just think it's important for the shift to happen in small steps (like showing post payout in crypto instead of fiat), and especially on platforms like Steemit that's built around crypto.
So people can understand value easily .. :)
I think cryptocurrency is not shown because not everyone or the majority of users on Steemit.com are not cryptocurrency literate, myself included I am still learning about this new currency
No one knows what .0009876 BTC is. Everybody knows what $1.00 is. An adoption problem for crypto that will need to be solved. Steemit is about adoption right now, building a network.