RE: It's a very bad idea to power down or sell Steem right now
The fact that EOS is not built and has no community (no real network effect) is the reason why for me I'm more interested in Steem. The other fact is, there is Cardano, there is Tezos, there is Tauchain, there is Enigma, and perhaps some others I forgot to mention all which will be capable of the same as EOS theoretically but which have chosen different design philosophies. We do not know which of these will be market dominant in the future.
Steem in my opinion is almost a sure thing at this point. The number of users are high, over 200,000, I don't recall exact numbers but higher than any other platform in crypto, and this translates into Metcalfe's law which translates into actual wealth of the network.
The only thing missing in my opinion is the technical mechanisms to maximize utility. SMTs help with this, and I think they can expand on that base to add more and better features before EOS can. EOS may have a technical advantage but that doesn't make me want to buy the token.
I think there is quite a large community forming around EOS, but we don't need to argue that point, I accept that EOS has not yet launched (though a development community has certainly formed and is engaging and building.)
Tezos at this point, given it's legal issues would seem to be a very bad bet.
I know nothing of Enigma yet.
Tauchain looks very interesting, I looked at it based on your recommendation actually. However, It seems a very long way off of delivering.
Cardano I see as an interesting alternative, however, I'm put off by Charles Hoskinson's salesman-like manner, arrogance and seeming failure to credit anyone's work in crypto but his own or his allies.
In my opinion, competition is distinctly thin on the ground.
Steem is doing well considering, but without addressing the token's distribution and unseemly economic incentives, I don't think it will be much competition at all for the next generation of social media dapps. People with smaller stakes will not be loyal to an abusive and unfair platform. If that situation was decisively addressed however, that would be a totally different matter.
Enigma has a large community forming around it as well and the brain power to match EOS. The only thing EOS has over Enigma is Dan Larimer. I do not think EOS has anything over Cardano.
This is a lot more competitive than you realize. It's not just community size but the effectiveness of the members. Sometimes a smaller yet more effective community makes a bigger impact.
I understand Charles Hoskinson is controversial. Dan Larimer is also controversial. This doesn't change the fact that both are extremely effective at what they do. Enigma has heavyweights from academia, from MIT, from Harvard, so a lot of brain power, but not a lot of experience doing crypto specific projects. This is to say that if they can get over the initial technical hurdles then they will be a force and hard to compete with in terms of brain power but they do not have a Dan Larimer or Charles Hoskinson.
I'm actually putting my chips in with Enigma because EOS isn't focusing on privacy. I think privacy is critical for the pursuit of happiness. People require a sense of privacy in order to even seek happiness is my hypothesis and since I know that, I think Enigma has a strategic advantage even if EOS and Cardano have great tech.
Hmmmm. You have privacy, in your thoughts, in your physical life and digitally, by your choice of community engagement. What Dan is attempting to solve is the privacy we think we need in order to secure life, liberty and property. But perhaps privacy is not what we need at all in this regard. Perhaps our sense of happiness and security will be better served by participating in a system where the incentives, rules and relationships secure us in which we are being open. It is an intriguing possibility. I guess we'll find out. Oh, I don't rate Charles anywhere near as highly as Dan and the experience Dan has, along with the massive team he's working with should not be underestimated. :)
It's be a real pleasure to chat with you dana-edwards. I wish you all possible success and I wish us all a brighter, fairer, more free future.