Vlog #52: The downtrend is real and Poloniex is not helping.
It's pretty clear that the markets are in a downtrend. The unrest surrounding Bitcoin is the cause I'm told.
Sadly the markets are still too closely connected that a BTC debate can have lots of influence on other projects. Which makes no sense to me as someone that looks at fundamentals of different projects but is something I have to accept.
As soon as the unrest is solved I expect BTC to shoot up like a rocket. It's going to be interesting to follow what will happen after August 1.
Poloniex has disabled deposits and withdrawals of Steem again. This has been going on for a while.
The holders of 26 million STEEM there can only find a way of the exchange by selling their STEEM to different crypto. It's putting extra sell pressure on STEEM in a market that is already in a downtrend.
On the positive side. SBD seems to be holding up nicely around the 1$ mark (0.90-1.10).
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I've been reading up on the whole Poloniex situation for the last month or so, not a good look to say the least. While I see situations like this bring up the very valid point of installing some form of regulatory oversight in the crypto space, I always root for the free market to solve these problems on it's own by competition providing the solutions. Nonetheless, it's a very painful process in the short term.
You bring up the very important topic of all the currencies being too closely associated with BTC. This is why I've seen all other coins to this point as simply derivatives of BTC. While technically speaking this shouldn't be the case b/c each coin should be looked at individually according to it's own merits and utility, but until individual coins are able to be traded directly for fiat and not have to use BTC as a medium of exchange, I see this issue unfortunately persisting. I do see this changing with time though as some coins separate themselves from the pack and can be looked upon with more confidence. The more coins we can exchange directly to and from fiat, the more useful they become to the average person on an every day basis. You've touched on this beautifully with SBDs and how they can serve this function for Steemit within the blockchain. We just need to enable Steem to be more easily exchanged in and out of fiat and then we'll see the true value of Steemit be realized.
Great post on some very important topics. Have a great weekend!
BTW, You asked how old I am, I'm 43 brother.
I think all the negativity is based around segwit and segwit2 .. I know a few people who got out of btc until all the changes have happened and any problems have been sorted
As for steem i think people should use it as money where you sell good for steem or buy with steem but don't change it for fiat
I'd happily accept steem as payment for my ebay auctions.. And keep it in steem especially if i could buy things i needed with steem
In the uk not so long ago there were small villages that had their own money and it was fully traded for goods and services...why not with steem
"Which makes no sense to me as someone that looks at fundamentals of different projects but is something I have to accept."
All money in and out of Steem has to travel through Bitcoin. Therefore, Bitcoin is the unit of account for Steem in many ways. As long as this is true, Steem is tied to it.
Steem is the Oil in this analogy and BTC is the (Petro)Dollar.
People have been calling cryptos all sort of things and have gone up because there is an elaborate pump and dump scheme going on. They do not understand that there are real businesses built on the back of cryptos by very smart people. It does not matter,
When BTC is back at its high, setting new records and seeing the next generation companies running on blockchain technology, people will think again and without second thought jump on the bandwagon.
Enlighten me my good sir, what "non-illegal" and "profitable" businesses are as you say:
I did not mention "non-illegal" or "profitable" businesses. But there are businesses built on the blockchain, Steemit being one. Others include Funfair, Populous, TenX, Iconomi, etc... So already you have a list of varied businesses with some in operation and other coming online soon. Their profitability is to be determined down the road and all dependent on the success of their business model.
Steemit is a business built by some very smart people on the back of cryptos.
Is Steemit profitable?
As far as I know, but It's a privately held company so the P&L isn't released.
That would be a question for @ned.
I guess Steemit would be one? BTS? Maybe Coinbase and the exchanges?
I guess it depends on how you define profitable.
Coinbase doesn't count, they are the smart ones, making money whether or not the market goes down or up. If you ever wanted a surefire investment, always invest your money in the house... it always wins!
Ah, yes, I learned that in my years supporting my self playing poker.
The rake is the only sure bet in the house.
It's called manipulation, and dumb money bruh. It cracks me up when people pull out all these fancy charts , and use all these fancy words to try to explain what's going on in the market.
When in reality, the Chinese could tank the entire market by simply dumping Bitcoin, and big banks could pump and dump coins all day long.
I mean the total market cap is less than 100 billion for fuck-sake, so it's not like it would be hard to do. Goldman and their buddies could buy the entire space if they felt like it.
Hell, and after that article they made the other day about it going to $4,000 a coin... maybe they have.
Goldman has become sort of a reliable contra-indicator. Like a Jim Cramer who is less of a joke. As soon as they called BTC higher, I figured we'd have a correction.
Ah ha, that's great, and something I will forever remember from now on... followed!
The Market cap is indeed still very small. Nice comment thanks.
I agree that there will be a lot of volatility as we approach the USAF etc. Crypto are all linked as any outsider considers them in a similar way. If bitcoin was to fail, it would take a long time for any of the Alts to recover and most prob would not.
As most exchanges only accept bitcoin in exchange for Alts, this correlation will remain.
I also expect to be a rich guy at the next Christmas. We just have to hodl!
Thanks for the big support! You are amazing!
Great post. This explains a lot and you always break things down in a way i can understand it, which is greatly appreciated as someone who is relatively new to steemit and crypto.
Nice video. If you believe in asset you should buy more when prices are low. Many act irrational when it comes to investing or trading, like they bought at $2600 and now they are selling. Anyway enjoy in London, been there several times and it was great every time.
Thanks man, and I can't wait to go there and meet @ezzy.
Yes. You're right @exyle. All the market is in solid downtrend and it may fall further thanks to Segwit hype and this shit. Everyone is panic selling and each and everyone are just converting thier bitcoins into fiat incase anything goes wrong on 1 August. People are just loosing their mind, it is the best time for investment in crypto markets and peeple are doing the opposite.
Steem price is also very low, seems like market is affecting it greatly but to my surprise SBD value is still consistent. I am sure the steemit withdrwals are the reason behind it.
Let's see what happens next, market can fall further. Just hope for the best.