I gained a reputation for being a doomsayer for a while there when I was writing about the System Debt level and a bunch of other stuff that has been helping drive the STEEM price down. In my defence, I was just calling things how I saw them and what I saw wasn’t good. At the end of the day I don’t think I was wrong and while I might have upset a few die-hards along the way I don’t regret any of it. But what do I see now? Am I still a STEEM doomsayer or could we now finally be in the Recovery Phase that I first wrote about over a year ago?
There has been a lot going on over the last year. A torrid Crypto Winter, HF20 disruption, the SMT delivery failure, an SBD Peg implosion, Steemit announcing massive lay-offs, massive stake powerdowns and serious talk about forking (and splitting) the entire ecosystem! If I’m being honest I didn’t see much of that coming and it’s been pretty tough to watch. It would have been even tougher for those poor STEEM HODLers who rode it all out. That said, I’ve seen a couple of Green Shoots recently and today we got an announcement from Steemit that they are Leaving “Survival Mode” … and Beta!
We have seen a fair share of “Spin” and “Hype” come from Steemit over the last couple of years but there is enough to like about this announcement in particular. It reinforces new leadership and a new team structure that looks a bit leaner and more visible/accessible than we’ve been used to. By leaving Beta they are projecting a bit of confidence for the market too. On the back of a successful development of MIRA (to reduce operating costs) and the addition of advertising (new revenue) on the Steemit site it all suggests Steemit is finally getting its act together with a more sustainable business and operating model. But this is not just about Steemit…
There are genuine attempts to organise additional decentralised development and governance to the STEEM platform, plus there are some genuine innovations happening with projects like Steem-Engine and other DApps that are adding value (and interest) to the platform. If you have a look at the stats and charts of 
In short I think this chart indicates that most people who were going to leave the platform have already done so and a bottom has been found. We have a System Debt level which has dropped back below 8% and there are strong indications that the Crypto Winter may be over as Bitcoin shoots up to over $8,000 USD. The rest of the Alt-Coin market has started playing catch up and while STEEM still languishes at Rank #60, it IS catching a bid. As they say – A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats – so with System Debt now at a manageable level coming off a low base and a Crypto Spring Thaw in process we might be well placed for a solid recovery here on STEEM.
I’m not saying that STEEM is suddenly going to outperform the broader Crypto Market and I’m not for a moment suggesting that everything is rosy. STEEM still has some endemic problems, but I think I’ve seen enough to start getting optimistic that we’ve seen the worst of things for now.
What about you?
