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2017 will be known as the year of the cryptocurrency gold rush. The year that propelled digital currency to the spotlight. It is also eerily similar to the gold rushes of old. Here’s why.

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I have always been interested in history. The amazing, and awful, things that have happened in the past have been the source of many books, tv shows, video games, and movies. I don’t think any of us hasn’t been entertained by history.

So when I hear people say that history is old and doesn’t matter I want to tell them to open their mind. That history really does repeat itself, if you know how to look. With some observations of the past you can catch a glimpse of what is happening or could happen in the future.

One of my recent observations is how closely Steemit resembles a gold rush. Specifically, the California Gold Rush of 1849.

Read this description of a gold rush from Wikipedia and tell me it doesn’t sound the same:
“Gold rushes were typically marked by a general feeling of a “free for all” in income mobility, in which any single individual might become abundantly wealthy almost instantly.”

Sounds about right, eh?

This the STEEM DREAM.

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The Steem Rush of 2017

“The discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in early 1848 sparked the Gold Rush, arguably one of the most significant events to shape American history during the first half of the 19th century. As news spread of the discovery, thousands of prospective gold miners traveled by sea or over land to San Francisco and the surrounding area; by the end of 1849, the non-native population of the California territory was some 100,000 (compared with the pre-1848 figure of less than 1,000). A total of $2 billion worth of precious metal was extracted from the area during the Gold Rush, which peaked in 1852.”

California Gold Rush summary from History.com

Steemit was launched in 2016. The number of people making posts numbered about 1,000 per day, myself among them. News of Steemit has definitely spread and now we have thousands of new arrivals every day. (Thankfully, we don’t have to spend months traveling by ship or land.) 100,000 daily users by the end of 2017 is well within current growth rates.

That last sentence is a glimpse of a possible future. Could the cumulative value of created STEEM be worth $2 billion in the next few years? It is certainly possible.

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“Though [the discoverers] tried to keep news of the discovery under wraps, word got out, and by mid-March at least one newspaper was reporting that large quantities of gold were being turned up at Sutter’s Mill. Though the initial reaction in San Francisco was disbelief, storekeeper Sam Brannan set off a frenzy when he paraded through town displaying a vial of gold obtained from Sutter’s Creek.”

This time it isn’t the discoverers (or creators @ned and @dantheman in Steemit’s case) trying to keep the news a secret, it is the other sites that don’t want to lose their users to Steemit (cough, Reddit). Word of great things will get out, and we see that happening today with Steemit.

Still, many initial reactions to Steemit and cryptocurrency in general is disbelief. It must be human nature to not believe it until they see it. With the amount of early users seeing their Steemit accounts increase, it is the proof. When I show people that I have built up $25,000 in cryptocurrency and that I have earned it, not by investing (and risking) money, but by posting great content, it tends to dispel that disbelief.

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“As news spread of the fortunes being made in California, the first migrants to arrive were those from lands accessible by boat, such as Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii), Mexico, Chile, Peru and even China. Only later would the news reach the East Coast, where press reports were initially skeptical. Gold fever kicked off there in earnest, however, after December 1848, when President James K. Polk announced the positive results of a report made by Colonel Richard Mason, California’s military governor, in his inaugural address. As Polk wrote, “The accounts of abundance of gold are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service.””

The accounts of some random person are earning so much on Steemit might not be enough to sway some people into the belief that this revolutionary concept is real and is changing real lives. For those people seeing that a person they trust and have been following on social media for months or years achieving great success on Steemit is probably enough to sway them.

It is good to see more and more large influencers joining our Steemit community.

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“By the end of the year, the non-native population of California was estimated at 100,000, (as compared with 20,000 at the end of 1848 and around 800 in March 1848). To accommodate the needs of the ’49ers, gold mining towns had sprung up all over the region, complete with shops, saloons, brothels and other businesses seeking to make their own Gold Rush fortune. The overcrowded chaos of the mining camps and towns grew ever more lawless, including rampant banditry, gambling, prostitution and violence. San Francisco, for its part, developed a bustling economy and became the central metropolis of the new frontier.”

I read this thinking of the cryptocurrency market in general. How many services have started up to service those using cryptos? Plenty of exchanges, forums, shops, and news websites have been started as well as those working on programs, software, and apps related to cryptocurrencies.

There has certainly been plenty of digital banditry too. Hackers have stolen millions upon millions over all the different breaches that have happened. Plus, gaming sites will certainly take your bitcoin if you feel like gambling it away.

Steemit is the cryptocurrency that is actually creating its own community. Even after the fever of the gold rush was gone, San Francisco remained and prospered. How many of the cryptocurrencies have something to offer besides the coin itself? Not many at all, in my opinion.

Because we are creating something more than just the coin, the Steemit platform will prosper. Steemit is like San Francisco in 1849, positioned to become the center of the digital currency frontier.

I believe that coins without utility that sets them apart will become the ghost towns of the digital age. We already see coins being left for dead.

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“After 1850, the surface gold in California largely disappeared, even as miners continued to arrive. Mining had always been difficult and dangerous labor, and striking it rich required good luck as much as skill and hard work. Moreover, the average daily take for an independent miner working with his pick and shovel had by then sharply decreased from what it had been in 1848.”

Gold is finite and will eventually all be found, not so with crypto and STEEM. While we have already seen groups forming to increase their sway on Steemit, I feel that the single blogger will always be able to succeed here. It will still require hard work, skill, and even some luck to do so.

The opportunity is there, but if you think you can just show up out of nowhere, post a few low quality things, and be rewarded with thousands of STEEM, you are mistaken. It requires dedication and commitment to your work as well as the community as a whole.

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“Though gold mining continued throughout the 1850s, it had reached its peak by 1852, when some $81 million was pulled from the ground. After that year, the total take declined gradually, leveling off to around $45 million per year by 1857. Settlement in California continued, however, and by the end of the decade the state’s population was 380,000.”

At some point in the future cryptocurrencies will start to become more stable, but they are here to stay. More people will transact using cryptos as the digital currency loses its stigma.

What better way to introduce people to cryptocurrency ownership than how Steemit operates? I see STEEM being the ‘gateway’ crypto for the masses due to how it is created. Instead of having to have specific equipment to mine, which requires a capital investment, STEEM is obtained by blogging and sharing your amazing creations.

If you give people a reason to put forth an effort you will be amazed at what they can create.

I am when I see what people have posted here every day.

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There is a little saying I have read here before: People come to Steemit for the money, they stay for the community.

It’s not too far off from what happened in California back in 1849. They went in search of riches, but found a place to live instead.

Here is something to ponder. Sure, some miners get rich mining for gold but it is those that sell to the miners that create the real fortunes. In the past it was the merchants who sold shovels & picks. Those who had food to sell. Those that enticed the miners through gambling or pleasures of the flesh. Who will become the richest during the digital gold rush?

What do you guys think? Do you see any similarities between these two events or am I just seeing things?

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Pictures are creative commons or from Pixabay. Gold rush summary from History.com

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Feel free to RESTEEM and follow @getonthetrain!