December 1st of 2017. It was a few weeks after discovering the old chain while scrolling TOP100 crypto at Coinmarketcap when I finally registered on this blockchain. It took me another month to write my Introduceyourslef post. Since then, most of the time Hive was with me, witnessing my way and evolution. 4 years is a full cycle, so I wanted to share with you this short recap.
Back then the whole market was full of promises and hopes about possible applications of blockchain technology. Social media was the most promising in my view back then. I was already tired with centralized platforms which and looking for alternatives.
Every new ICO raised millions of dollars, even if it promised decentralization of munchies delivery... Cannabis tokens, IoT tokens, decentralized computing tokens. All doors were open back then. No clear trends, ICO was a trend as a new, decentralized method of funding business. And actually fudsters were right back then, around 99% of these projects ended as scams or just empty promises. The whole sphere was like a teenager pondering on great possibilities brought by life. It was short after, when the teenager realized - finance first.
For me, personally, Bitcoin brought the answer for the questions I was asking myself with (sometimes) maniac stubbornness. How the system can be improved for the better future of humanity? I started to ask these question back in 2008, environment, politics, conspiracy theories, philosophical point of view. Every possible stream lead me down to the finite resources on Earth and basically to money. I just wanted to take part in process of creation of the new world, for myself and for my future children.
For the first time I bought Bitcoin in 2013, having scholarship on university left me with some extra money. I didn't understand potential of this technology back then, I wasn't ready. It all clicked for me in autumn 2017, I saw a crypto-light after watching one of the blockchain conferences. Somebody basically explained some sort of DAO structure to replace gig-economy tech giants. I realized back then, this is the answer for my questions. Nothing else makes sense now. Politics? Activism? Giving up on the world and becoming a prepper? No, no and... LOL, no! The old world is going to die one way or another, I realized this years before, and only huge amounts of hope helped me to go through this crisis and dig deeper, looking for answers. It was worth it.
Obviously some very unexpected disastrous event which will wipe us all out might happen. Prepare for the world you want to live in, they say. Or... something... Anyway, decentralization became my answer.
It was similar phase of the market as now, optimism/belief, everybody was successful investor. My modest investment was 10x pretty fast, but I didn't sell with my 3-5years plan in head. I tried myself at trading and searching crypto-sphere for opportunities but it didn't really work for me.
I started to explore Steem though. I never created any content before joining this place. My first tries were rather clumsy, long texts, giving out ideas which were the most important for me. Very resource-consuming. I didn't succeed much back then. I wasn't able to maintain high content output to keep regularity which is crucial here. When the price crashed and I still couldn't find my place, I sort of disappeared for around a year, though I never sold staked tokens. My plan was to HODL.
It was 2-3months before the exodus to Hive, when I came back, not because of the price, it wasn't higher back then. I remembered potential of Hive, and finally I had a little more money to invest, I staked around 4000 SP when the Hive was born. All useless tokens from the dead chain were exchanged for Hive and powered-up, this was entirely new chapter for the community. Seeing the whole community showing the middle finger to Justin made be believe in this chain even more, and what's most important, we were finally self-governing, no VC, no company. Just a community! This is huge and unique! Really unique.
I was pretty sure, blockchain technology will see resistance of legacy system. Who are they going to sue? Who are they going to regulate? Not organically growing, community-owned social media DAO, that's for sure. Can you imagine blockchain police walking from place to place worldwide turning of computers? I stress-tested this ecosystem many times in my head and in conversations with others. Bulletproof!
This is the long-term game though, and I'm ok with it, I always was, since I wasn't brought to crypto with promises of quick money. My investment thesis of growing cycles and avoiding over-hyped trends seems to be working now. Just invest what you believe in. At the same time work with your beliefs to constantly improve potential of your investment and future world at the same time. The great alignment of the goals in my life. Escaping the rat race and building better future for a humanity!
Also, invest only if you understand the asset UNIQUE value proposition. It's pretty clear to me here on Hive. Clear enough to bet most of my bags, and clear enough that I took a loan from the bank one year ago to buy more Hive. I might miss these x200 shitcoin opportunities, however I don't worry about my investment. Peace of my mind is more valuable then missed gains.
Now, I'm also more than 4years old in crypto, and I can see how toxic environment has it became. Presales, paid groups, rug-pulls, cash-grabs, centralization of stakes in the hands of financial institutions. Greed in a pure form. Old money sucks new money, big money sucks small money. Story reiterates each cycle, but with higher volatility and greater level of proficiency. I don't judge it really, greed is a human thing, but there is one truth we might be sure of - nothing grows forever. It will crash, sooner or later, we are going to see another crypto winter. If you think otherwise you might want to consider, if your personal position on the emotional cycle chart didn't advanced a few stages further.
In the case of massive collapse of prices, there will be perfect excuse for regulation. You know, politicians talking about people who lost their money. In this environment Hive will thrive. Every kind of centralization is a potential point of failure in the future. But even without regulatory pressure (remember, there is already a lot of crypto in the hands of banksters) Hive will still find its place.
Inevitable automation will lead to lack of traditionally understood jobs. This might be a good thing, finally we are going to be free to explore creativity, spirituality and philosophy without any limits, and we are going to need open and free space, which will allow to reward future content creators. Most of the children asked, what do they want to do as adults, they say about creating content. Kids understand future better then "experts". We are going to need Hive. Hive story is unique and impossible to replicate by income seeking, business-oriented individuals. This is the power of decentralization!
Peace!