As a result of the price of Bitcoin seeing a high of over $3000 recently, the blockchain technology is beginning to gain attention from the mainstream media. While most people think that the crypto-world is a bubble which will burst soon (same people who have missed out on the profits of Bitcoin and Ethereum), they only look at it from the perspective of dollar signs.
Since most people spend most of their time appreciating how Bitcoin and Ethereum have gone up in value, they give less attention to the vision behind these cryptos. The decentralized blockchain, first implemented for Bitcoin, is a secure database by design. It cannot be hacked or corrupted and has the potential to drastically change the way we use the internet. The technology would seem futuristic to the average Joe, but the fact is that it is 10 years old and is already changing the way we use the internet paving the way for more revolutionary technologies to surface.
The following two have potential to not only become powerhouses in the future, but can also generate great revenue for people motivated by dollar signs in the long term.
Siacoin: Technology in general has seen drastic growth in the last two decades. Within my lifetime (born in the 90's), I have used cassette tapes to CD players to Spotify. I have played Atari to Playstation to Playstation 4. I have gone from having a telephone, a computer, a music player, a camera, a watch, a chessboard to... having it all in my iPhone. I have stored data in floppy disks, CDs, USBs and now in the iCloud.
The risks of storing all your data in the iCloud is that once you have uploaded the data, its no longer yours. In response to that, the developers at Sia think that if its your data, you should own it. The fact that it is decentralized, makes it almost impossible for anyone else to access your data and you can sleep in peace knowing that your data is not being sold commercially.
On the Sia website, it says, “Sia splits apart, encrypts, and distributes your files across a decentralized network. Since you hold the keys, you own your data. No outside company can access or control your files, unlike traditional cloud storage providers.”
Thus, a world where privacy is becoming a luxury few can afford because we are more dependent on technology than we ever were, Sia offers us the ability to control our privacy for a very low cost right now (almost 10 times lesser than GoogleCloud).
The price of Siacoin today (after a dip in all cryptos) is $0.0158 and I feel like once the ball gets rolling, it can go up to $300-$400.
SteemIt: This is another idea that can replace something that already exists, we know its bad for us because it invades our privacy and sells our data, but we continue to use it because that is the only way we feel connected to information and it has no other alternative. This could be true for all of the mainstream social networking sites. While I have also lived through the evolution of social networking websites: from Myspace and Orkut to Facebook and Twitter, none of them offer users any monetary benefit.
What Steemit does for its users is that it rewards them for their content in STEEM. Something that no other social networking website can even dream to offer right now. While the blockchain is hosted by the users, it is safe to say that Steemit is of the people, by the people, for the people.
It says on the Steemit website that: "Most social media sites extract value from their userbase for the benefit of shareholders alone. Steemit is different, it's a new kind of attention economy. By connecting with the Steem blockchain (which is decentralized and controlled by the crowd), Steemit users receive all the benefits and rewards for their attention."
The price for STEEM right now is around $1.89 as a result of the dip (third dip this month) after a high of around $2.5 this year, but considering that earlier this year, the price was $0.15, STEEM is definitely going back up to $2.5 in the next two months and I can bet on it touching $10 within the next 12 months.
In the end, the blockchain has already begun to revolutionize the way we use the internet. For new investors, it is very easy to identify the good cryptos (with good potential) from the bad ones. Do not look at the change in percentages or the change in dollar value, instead one should look at the technology each crypto is offering and how that technology can improve on whats already out there. Only time will tell how well these two cryptos above will pick up speed, but if I were you, I would definitely invest in Siacoin and Steemit.
If you don't believe me, go ask Satoshi.
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