I first learned about cryptocurrency through a subscription I had bought back in late 2017. It was one of those deals where you put down a deposit, and if you don't like the service, they'll refund your down payment in full. I got my money back, but I was still able to access the service I had originally "bought." The only bad thing about these services is giving your information out. I decided to give them a junk email and a shortened version of my name, a fake DOB, and call it a day. The service recommended buying into several cryptocurrencies, one of them being - STEEM POWER.
I had heard of bitcoin, but didn't really know anything beyond BTC. I did a little research on my own and found out about a social media networking platform that rewards its users for posting and curating quality content. Holy crap. I had never knew such a thing even existed.
That same day I decided to start an account, and begin my journey on steemit. At first, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. Besides, this whole cryptocurrency space was still very new to me at this point. I quickly realized the in's and out's of steemit and how steemit is not STEEM. I understood that the steemit platform was built atop the STEEM blockchain; the social networking platform seeking to add value via community-driven content curated by the peers of steemit.
All the while more and more development occurred, and now, look where we are. The value of steem may be lower than what we expect to see, but honestly, the current price of STEEM acts as a major opportunity for all of those who are currently here. STEEM under $0.17 is a steal if you ask me. If you are not active NOW, then you are missing out on a MAJOR opportunity to stack some STEEM. When the price goes, it is going to be much harder to earn STEEM than when it is $0.17. We can all guarantee that.
The next big run, which will be led by BTC, is going to be a little different than the previous bull run. The alts that actually stand a chance will make their runs, and all the shitcoins will die. This is at least my opinion, none of which is financial advice by the way.
STEEM is one of the most diverse cryptocurrencies, up there with some of the big dogs like LTC, ETH, EOS XEM, XRM, & DASH - to name a few. The amount of development taking place here far exceeds that of many cryptocurrencies. There are only 6 blockchains out of over 2,000 with more average developers than STEEM. You can see more detail regarding this stat in a recent post by none other than 
I believe in STEEM and I believe in the developers. The last thing we need to be is discouraged. Just because STEEM is near an all time low doesn't mean we are dead. The whole market is down, especially when compared to BTC, but this does not mean the end is near. The long-term vision should be what we have in mind. Look ahead until 2025 or even 2030, and then see where things are. I bet then the people that have no idea what cryptocurrency is now will know about STEEM, and wish they knew about it when we did.