I’ve been having so much fun the last two weeks in NYC that I didn’t notice until recently that the cryptocurrency market has gone down a lot.
Seeing Steem at $2.24 this morning was a sobering moment. It’s definitely a shock compared to the high valuations of $6+ that we saw in early 2018.
On the other hand, we’re hovering around the previous peak of a steem “bubble” in the summer of 2017:
Compared to how it felt after that price collapsed in the fall of 2017, I’m doing quite well now. Even at a “low” price of $2.50 like it is as I type this post, we’re still doing a bit better than the best price I had ever seen 5 months ago.
Looking at the chart now feels good to me. it’s good so far and if it continues, we will see even higher prices in the future.
I believe strongly in the technology of Steem and what it makes possible - I’m optimistic based on the idea that many people will be joining Steem in coming months.
Reasons to Be Optimistic About Steem
All of the Fundamental Value of Steem is Still Present
Nothing of importance has changed for the worse with regards to the Steem blockchain. While the price fluctuates, the community continues to grow steadily and we are reaching new highs in the Alexa web charts (measuring website popularity) with each week.
According to 
The technology of Steem is moving forward as well. We are going to have a test net for Smart Media Tokens soon (more info) which is a big stpe on the path towards the launch of that feature. With SMTs we will gain a much stronger B2B offering from Steem to businesses around the world. This can potentially add huge value to Steem…
Meanwhile the userbase of Steem seems to be more vibrant and active than ever. Our community is our biggest strength, the best in the entire blockchain space, and we continue to outperform all competitors by a factor of ten or more in this area. That’s incredible.
The Best Case Scenario is Extremely Valuable
Even if you think Steem has a low chance of success, it’s worth it to invest your time and money into the platform. That’s because the best scenario for Steem is not a small boost from our current position. The best case scenario is a 100x growth from our current value, or even more.
Steem could become the backbone of the monetized web. All video, music, and written content around the internet can be monetized via Steem-powered services that use a combination of upvotes and direct steem payments.
In the best case scenario, you can do all of the following things:
- Get a discount on everything you buy equal to your 100% upvote strength
- Donate one upvote to charity automatically each day
- Fund small business and personal projects via Steem
- Get loans and credit using Steem Power as collateral
Steem could be a standard way to pay for anything online. This is the best case scenario, and even if it’s only a 2% chance that it happens, the odds make it worth trying. After all many of the less amazing scenarios are still good - so there could be another 50% chance that Steem at least grows a little more from where it is today before it reaches a final stable price.
There’s also the chance of total failure and going to $0. You can never completely eliminate that from anything. But if you believe in the growth potential of steem, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor to stay optimstic and keep participating here.
It’s a Relatively Low Entry Cost
You don’t need to spend any money to succeed on Steem. I haven’t, at least not anything that I didn’t earn first as Steem before spending it.
Time-wise, it’s a bit of a job but doable alongside other work. You could invest 10 hours per week into Steem and do really well by creating content and engaging with other users. Over the course of a year this is probably enough to gain 1,000+ followers.
Over time as the Steem income picks up and becomes more stable, the idea of an “entry cost” goes away entirely. Instead you have an average hourly wage based on your average Steem earnings per week and your hours worked per week on Steem-related tasks.
Anybody with access to the internet and enough time to carve out some space for Steem work can build a following and a stash of coins. That’s a great reason to stay optimstic about Steem as an accessible and open platform for monetization.
Markets Always Go Down Eventually - Stay Positive
In this crazy world of cryptocurrency, you can’t let the market get to you. The price of Steem may feel low right now, but we’re still doing great. There is a ton of growth to be had, if all goes well, in the coming months and years.
For now the most effective mindset is that of pragmatic optimism. Know that Steem can succeed in a big way and that you can have your share of the success if you do the work.
If you create content regularly and do your best to engage with other Steemians, it will be a great time and eventually a profitable time. And best of all, the market price going down means that you’ll have less competition. Some people stop working on their Steem account as soon as they see the price go down. Don’t be like them.
That’s all I have to say on this topic for now. I don’t talk about the crypto market much, but it felt like a good time to do so. What do you think? How are these recent price drops affecting you?
