After 2 months of research and many hours of consideration, I've finally given in and admitted the Steem is a Ponzi scheme. I've come to this conclusion because Steem tokens have no value outside of the fact that the community is willing to transact in these tokens. It's literally the exact same argument that can be made to call bitcoin a Ponzi Scheme as well.
It's the same argument that can be used to call fiat currencies a Ponzi scheme. By this measure, our entire financial system is a Ponzi scheme. So yes, Steem is also currently a Ponzi. With this realization I have discovered 2 paths.
Path #1 - Real World Use Case
Should Steem developers create some sort of business that has real world use cases (such as advertising for an easy example) then real demand for the product can exist.
Path #2 - Pure Speculation Play
This means that the coin will only have value should a community continue to use and transact in it.
If we end up with Path #1 or Path #2 it's ok for me at this point.
If a real world use case is created then it's very easy to see Steem create a sustainable business model that can support growth and development for many years to come. This could come with a great increase in Steem price.
If no real world use cases are created, then we have to look at the growth and scaleability of the community to know if we are in immediate danger. From everything that I can see, we haven't even started to get this thing rolling. This means if you look at it as a Ponzi, then you're getting in really early and stand to make a ton of money should it catch fire. The potential for scale is huge.
Just ask yourself, are the social applications such as Steemit.com, dTube.com, dMainia.com, dLive.com places where content creators and curators will likely be spending more and more time in the future? Compared with conventional social media platforms that don't share any rewards with content creators. Do you see a demand for steemit like platforms in the future. If so, then you are in the right place at the right time.
That's giving me more confidence to invest in steem power knowing that a real world use case doesn't exist, but the fact content creators and curators get rewarded simply through creating subjective value is truly a game changer. I can't hardly spend an time on Facebook anymore because their incentive structure is so out of wack.
To summarize, you can call anything that requires trust or faith to transact a Ponzi scheme. I that sense gold is a Ponzi scheme as well. You have to trust or have faith that someone in the future will want your gold. It in and of itself doesn't do anything for you.
Do you think steemit.com has value or the ability to grow to 1 million users? How about 10 million, 100 million. No matter how big it can get, I believe it will continue to grow for some years to come and we are just getting started.
Let me know what you think. Are you pumped to be investing your time and money on this platform? Are you ok transaction is a currency that our community deems to have value because of our incentive structures?
Would love to hear from you.