Hi Everyone,
This post contains my video explaining the possibilities of Steem from my perspective as an investor. I joined Steem in June 2017 as a content creator. I initially used Steem as a place for sharing my YouTube videos. It did not take long for me to realise the enormous potential of a social media platform on the blockchain. I made creating content on Steem my priority and I used other social media to share my Steem content. I bought about 100 Steem after a few months. I did not make a major commitment to invest until I had been on Steem for about six months. I intended to use my investment to gain influence and to help support my content. I also wanted to help the platform grow as a whole.
Steem experienced a huge jump in price in late 2017 and very early 2018. I was very excited as I saw my investment grow. That excitement was cut short quickly as the price dropped sharply. The price continued to drop. In the second half of 2018, the price returned to what it was when I invested (about US$0.9). Then it dropped again. The price drop was mostly not related to Steem itself as the entire cryptocurrency market was hit very badly. However, Steem was hit harder than most of the other top 50 cryptocurrencies (based on market cap). Steem had its problems but these still paled in comparison to the enormous potential. During the course of 2018, Steem continued to increase in utility with the arrival of many new and exciting applications. I saw Steem as a bargain rather than a failure. Therefore, I bought over 50,000 Steem. Since my latest investment, the price of Steem has climbed a little. I believe once other people realise the potential of the Steem blockchain, the price of Steem will once again reach new highs.
My motivation to be an investor in Steem came from my desire to be create content. Many people do not have the desire to create content but are looking to invest in something interesting, which also has great potential. I believe Steem has enormous potential to be a great investment. I share my opinion in detail in the video below.
To watch the video, click on the YouTube link below
Quick summary of the video
The video looks at the various opportunities of owning Steem and converting to Steem Power. These opportunities include:
- Curating content
- Delegating to other users
- Following curation trails
- Selling votes
- Supporting DApps
Curating content enables an investor to support the content they like as well earn Steem as a curation reward. Curating content can be very enjoyable and rewarding but requires quite a bit of time and effort.
Delegating to others requires very little effort but the investor forgoes the ability to influence rewards and content. Investors can choose to delegate to curators to help the platform grow. They can delegate to bots to accumulate more Steem but votes are distributed based on bids/payment rather than merit. Investors could also delegate to DApps.
Following curation trails pushes the burden to the trail to select content to upvote. There are many trails available to follow; steemauto.com is an example of a website where an investor can select a trail. Trails save time and offer the same rewards as curating manually. Trails do not require delegation thus keeping control with the investor.
Selling votes can be done through websites such as smartmarket.com and minnowbooster.com. Vote selling does not require delegation of Steem Power and returns almost as much in Steem as delegating to a bot. The investor has the flexibility to determine the criteria for vote selling. Vote selling still does not ensure your votes support the content you believe most deserving.
DApps can be supported directly through delegation of Steem Power or indirectly through upvotes of the DApps users. DApps normally offer a return on delegation of Steem Power. This return is currently lower than bots but this is likely to change when DApps earn revenue through advertising subscriptions or other means. Steem DApps are growing in success. Steem has several DApps in the top 20 on the ‘State of the DApps’ website. I predict the DApps will add the most value to Steem in the next few years.
Conclusion
There are many exciting developments on Steem and the price is very low compared to what it could be in a few years and possibly even months if the DApps continue to be successful. I have invested my money in Steem because I am confident it will grow and will fulfil much of it’s potential. However, there is no such thing as a sure bet. Investing in anything has risk. Cryptocurrencies in particular are high risk. Many cryptocurrencies experienced over a 90% drop in price in 2018; Steem was one of those cryptocurrencies. I strongly recommend only investing what you can afford to lose.
Thank you for watching my video. Feel free to comment, provide feedback or express your own opinion.
More posts
If you want to read any of my other posts, you can click on the links below. These links will lead you to posts containing my collection of works. These posts will be updated frequently.
Steem - The Future of DApps
