What happens when a lot of people want to buy something but not as many people want to sell it?
This:
Like most bitcoin / cryptocurrency fans, I've been amazed at what we're seeing lately. I just finished reading this fantastic write up by 
The Great Bitcoin Bull Market of 2017
Some key quotes that jumped out at me:
This price discovery could be the most wild thing anyone has ever experienced in financial markets.
Things could get crazy. Maybe we haven't seen anything yet.
I'm a huge fan of DPOS (Delegated Proof of Stake as opposed to POW / Proof of Work) blockchains (BitShares, Steemit, EOS), so I was surprised and a bit discouraged to see this:
The higher the transaction fees then the greater implied value the Bitcoin network provides because users are willing to pay more for it.
I am highly skeptical of blockchains which have very low transaction fees. By Internet bubble analogy, Pets.com may have millions of page views but I am more interested in EBITDA.
When I think of transaction fees, I think of required incentives for miners to continue securing the network while also making it too expensive for network spammers. With DPOS, none of that is needed. Witnesses like myself are paid directly to secure the network, and we are scheduled through cooperation instead of competition via stake-weighted vote.
To me, just because a network is expensive to use doesn't automatically mean it will continue to be valuable. It may mean it's just the only practical option for the task at the time. As an example mentioned recently by cryptocoinsnews, cryptocurrencies are now more valuable than Visa. Anything can be disrupted.
If someone wants to move around millions of dollars in STEEM or SmartCash or any number of other altcoins, they simply can't do it without slippage. Also, other than the BitShares DEX which prices things in BTS (and even then, the liquidity is not great), few exchanges price cryptocurrency assets in anything other than USD, BTC, or occasionally ETH. To me, that means BTC is the only game in town for many things people want to do in this space.
I don't think it will always be that way. As the marketcap of cryptocurrencies grow, more large transfers will be possible on chains which have low (or no) fees. As more decentralized exchange platforms launch, people will be free to create whatever currency pairs they want.
This could change quite a few things for bitcoin. Or the network effect dominance it currently enjoys may continue to outpace competitors.
Either way, it's a super exciting time to be involved in cryptocurrency. I hope you're getting involved as well. If you haven't yet, please watch my free videos at http://understandingblockchainfreedom.com which redirects to the 
To help you keep track of your cryptocurrency holdings, I created this free spreadsheet for you 8 months ago: The Cryptocurrency Bank Spreadsheet
I do think cryptocurrency is the future of finance.
I want more people to get onboard so they can own and control their own stores of value.
If you want to help create more liquidity on the BitShares DEX (decentralized exchange), you can use my referral link to create an account right now:
https://wallet.bitshares.org/?r=luke-stokes
I hope you're enjoying this rise in value as much as I am. :)
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