In order for a currency to be worth something it has to be accepted. Right now steem is useful for voting power, which is a unique benefit to give a currency. And of course you can buy and sell it on the market if you are one for risk. But if steem is going to go to the moon, or at least outside of our atmosphere it will need to find more uses and be accepted outside of the steemit site.
1.) In-game Currency
Yes, this is where a geek starts, with video games. If you read my posts it will come to no surprise I'm a gamer. Games have their own currency's where you can buy stuff in game. This can help you level up faster, be equipment for a character, be purely aesthetic or unlock different maps and levels. But what if that money had value outside of the game. What if you could buy an item with some steem or even better, sell your items to another player for steem? Video game markets work but they are limited to the scope of their world and items, even when bought with real money, have no value outside of the game. This can change if steem is implemented properly into one of these virtual worlds
2.) An Online Market
You can buy almost anything online. Sites like Amazon and eBay have you covered no matter what you are looking for and shopping online is looking to be the norm in the future. Right now you use your credit card to make purchaces and pay that card off. But what if you can skip those steps. What if you got paid in steem, went to the market and bought whatever it is you were looking for. or sold your items in steem. When people can buy real world objects with a currency it gives that currency much more weight and value.
3.) Food
Food is the kind of the basic purchase. If you can buy food with it, then it is a currency. And although it would be nice to walk into any restaurant and use your steem card to pay for your meal, that level of adoption is far away. But that doesn't mean online businesses cannot accept it. What if you could order your groceries or a pizza online and use steem. It would do a lot to legitimize the currency.
4.) Transfering Money
This is a big one. Sending money costs fees. Every bank and even PayPal have their own fees. But with a cryptocurrency you can minimize or even, in some cases, eliminate them. Look at steemit. If you are friends with someone on here and want to send them 1,000 steem, all you have to do it transfer it to them. No cost involved. Don't believe me, transfer me some steem and see for yourself :p. And yes that last part was a joke. But being able to send and receive money, worldwide, with little transaction costs puts the money at and advantage over traditional currency.
Remember it is a digital currency that can be the same as the money in your bank. It all depends on who is willing to accept it.
Got any other ideas? Please share them in the comments
