STEEM to the MOON! - My Top Crypto Picks for 2018!
Hey everyone, welcome back to the short series I’m doing about my cryptocurrency investment portfolio. Today we’ll talk about STEEM. STEEM is my largest holding in the crypto space (currently weighting at ~12% of my portfolio and growing) and is by far my favorite crypto for a variety of reasons.
I’m sure most of you already have a pretty good grasp of STEEM, but I’ve found that many people actually don’t have a very good grasp of the inner workings of STEEM, Steemit, SBD, Steem Power, Vests, etc. So, I’ll start by defining the different currencies within the STEEM ecosystem. Note that this is not a comprehensive review of each, but rather just an overview to create some context around STEEM:
- STEEM
- Steem Power (SP)
- Steem-Backed Dollars (SBD)
1). STEEM
STEEM is the driving currency behind Steemit and the STEEM blockchain. STEEM is currently valued at $7 (up more than 200% since the start of 2018). STEEM is the main subject of this discussion and is the cryptocurrency that I am by far the most optimistic about.
2). Steem Power (SP)
Many people are actually confused about the true definition of SP. SP is not a currency, it simply represents vested STEEM. Vested STEEM is that which is powered up and takes 90 days to withdraw (via 13 payments). Steem Power (SP) is what allows us to interact with the STEEM blockchain and determines our upvote value, our voting for witnesses and much more.
SP has continued to be in high demand. Over half a million dollars worth of *LIQUID STEEM was recently pulled off the market and powered up. The demand of vested STEEM (a.k.a. SP) is important to understand when trying to evaluate the STEEM blockchain. SP will come to play an even larger role and come under higher demand when the release of SMTs is upon us because in order to interact with SMTs, one will need to use their SP.
3). Steem-Backed Dollars (SBD)
Steem-Backed Dollars or SBDs are a dollar-pegged currency. That is, their value are supposed to be represented as 1SBD=$1. Notice that SBD is actually at $9 right now. There’s been a variety of explanations about why this happened, the best explanation I’ve found to date is that SBD rose in value due to it being listed on a Korean exchange and then subsequently being pumped because of its extremely limited supply.
Dan Larimer also stated that SBD can theoretically have any value above $1. Remember though that as the price of STEEM rises, so do the payouts on Steemit. As the payouts on Steemit get larger and larger, more SBD is printed and this causes downward pressure on the price of SBD. With the rising STEEM price right now, I would not be surprised if SBD started to trend downwards.
Please correct me if I made any mistakes in my description of SBDs, I’ve researched a lot about the situation, but I’m no expert.
Why invest in STEEM? My outlook for 2018:
I’m expecting STEEM to rise significantly in 2018 for a lot of reasons:
- Growing demand for Steem Power (SP)
- Leases
- Liquid Steem being converted into SP
- Upcoming Release of Smart Media Tokens(SMTs)
- Earn More STEEM by Powering Up
- Community
- Ripe for Adoption
1. Growing Demand for Steem Power (SP):
Something that has become very clear in recent weeks is that the demand for SP is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. Lease delegations and Liquid STEEM are being bought up at an absurd (but awesome) rate. Put simply, this is great because it shows confidence and usage of the STEEM blockchain. The more confidence and usage behind STEEM, the greater the price will rise.
2. Upcoming Release of Smart Media Tokens(SMTs)
SMTs deserve a whole separate post on their own (actually a series of posts) and I'll get to making those posts soon. SMTs, in my opinion, will radically change the content industry. ANY blog, website, news outlet, business, etc. can potentially benefit from the issuance of an SMT. Imagine if a blog like fourhourworkweek or a news outlet like the WSJ decided to issue a token via SMT.
The usage just one of these outlets would bring would radically drive the price of STEEM upwards because STEEM will still be the base currency of their SMT. Steem Power will still hold influence over their usage of the STEEM blockchain even though they are issuing their currency "separately". Think ERC20 tokens and Ethereum as a real-world example of this.
3. Earn More STEEM by Powering Up
Just the prospect of earning more STEEM by holding Steem Power is awesome. The benefits of holding SP are so amazing that it just doesn't make sense to not power up, in my opinion. I'm working on getting as much SP as I can right now!
4. Community
You're already on Steemit, so you know how strong the community is behind the STEEM blockchain. Anyone involved in this community is laser-focused on the success of Steemit and STEEM. I think I can leave it at that.
5. Ripe for Adoption
Unlike the vast majority of cryptocurrencies, Steemit and STEEM are relatively easy to use and obtain a basic understanding. I got both my brother and my mom using Steemit and neither of them are very technically inclined. There's still a few rough moments and ridiculous questions here and there, but overall, they've learned how to use Steemit like pros in just the past 2 weeks. They're starting to tell their friends about it and the onboarding process is relatively easy for them to replicate without me, which really says something about STEEM in and of itself.
The creation of interfaces like Busy.org and Steemit allow this blockchain to be one of the easiest, if not the easiest, to use and interact with.
So there you have it, my reasons for buying and hodling STEEM until I die 🤩🚀. I hope you learned a few things about STEEM and I hope you also consider learning even more about this amazing blockchain and its potential to massively disrupt every content business in existence.
Disclaimer: This is not investment advice and is for entertainment purposes only. Thank you!
Thanks for reading! Here's the Question of The Day, don't forget to post your answers in the comments!
QOTD: What's your favorite part about the STEEM blockchain? How many of your freinds/family members have you put on to Steemit?
If you haven't yet told any of your friends/family members about Steemit, I challenge you to go out and tell 3 of them about it and get at least 1 to commit to joining this amazing community!
-Khaleel
My favorite part of steemit, is because it's a social media platform that is decentralized. Because socializing is part of who we are, and the best part is we get rewarded by ourselves with crypto money. This in and of itself has so much potential to be the greatest thing that ever happened to humanity. For we know there is no one corporation ripping us off and getting rich in the process, which I believe is a moral dilema. Therefore being part of this great community is very empowering and rewarding at the same time. ✌🎖🎉🍻👈
I couldn't agree more on this. Also, due to this reward system, I'm motivated to further work on my passions. Lately, I'm honing my craft in arts, music and video editing.
#5 is what sets Steem apart from most every other cryptocurrency.
That's a good point. I'll add it in this comment:
#5 What Sets STEEM Apart From Every Other Crypto?
STEEM is so much different than every other crypto. Ease of use, flexibility, scalability, and practical bandwidth are just a few of the core advantages that STEEM has over most of the other cryptos out there. STEEM already does 4x as many transactions as Bitcoin and even still can scale much bigger and better from here without any changes to the core. Changes to the core in the future could bring even more scalability! As I mentioned in the post, STEEM is already one of the easiest, if not the easiest crypto/blockchain to interact with. Even my mom and brother have learned how to use it pretty well (both of whom have very basic technical knowledge). STEEM can be placed in the category with certain cryptos like Ethereum and NEO - the category of flexibility. With SMTs, STEEM can be used as the backbone for tokenization of just about anything and has the practical example (Steemit) to showcase its potential. I believe that STEEM will be one of the most influential players in a lot of different industries that can be disrupted by tokenization.
Thanks for your question, it makes a great addition to the post!
Dear @khaleelkazi this post is very complete thank you for this. you are very exact and have a great viwe on changes in crypto currncy. thanks dear @khaleelkazi for sharing your great idea with us.
QOTD: What's your favorite part about the STEEM blockchain? How many of your freinds/family members have you put on to Steemit?
I'm looking froward for the HF20 and the introducing of mining as I'm do GPU a little. Would love to mine the thing that I'm very much a part of :D
Already got in 3 family members and 7 friends in 1 month :D
I still have it on my list to research more about HF20! Being more involved in what you love is always a great feeling!! That's amazing that you've gotten so many people onto Steemit!! Keep up the good work!
Thanks man!
Oh it'll be great hearing from you on your thoughts about HF20!
Yes please, I would love to know HF20's details. Was there going to be mining again?
Would be awesome!
@xyzposter yep there's gonna be mining after HF20 :D
I fully agree with you on the Steem Dollars, it is always best to trade them in the direction of 1 USD, because the forces will always be back to the right peg. Beside that by cashing them out now (best in Steem of course) you will help the peg to recover. I think if SD can maintain the peg and more exchanges list it it could be a very good asset to replace USDT. It is instant, so you don't have to wait long to get enough confirmations as with most other crypto's. Could be a perfect tool for arbitrage!
I agree and next that SBD is not created centrally, while USDT is.
Hi there it's me again @Josediccus well despite that I'm not new here at least, I learnt quite a lot, now if I did, which means newbies have not option but to read this and learn, you have really given out a sacrosanct information about this block chain I'm so thrilled.
However you are right I know when hardfork 2.0 takes place, steem would be a valuable commodity thank you for the info, I'm really stacking steem up, so I can power up.
Thank you buddy again for this.
And I have done my post for your #tkc tag
When is the steemit fork?
Favorite part is fast transactions at zero fees. Me my wife and brother on steemit.
STEEM is by far the most underapriciated crypto at this moment. My pick:
https://www.yours.org/content/42-crypto-to-todl-in-2018--draft--6fae658847b6/
My returning dream when ever I put my head to sleep haha :-)
My favorite part is we all who commeted to steemit is rewarded fairly by reputation points all people joind early will notice this when a massive New comers hit in and they will have hard time for high reputation steemian to vote for them bcuz of diluted numbers .
Really good points. May favorite part about Steemit is that original posts are rewarded not just repeats of popular youtube videos. It is a festival of poetry, art, music and and adventure as well as a financial support group. I told 3 friends at and some family about Steemit. Some were interested but didn't do anything. Still they kept it in mind. All of the researched the site. Some didn't like it and one started to steem on @artjohn. SP is awesome to have but I have some questions about that. If my upvote is worth more then how do I control the percentage of upvote I'm giving? The second question is what is best to do with SBD that gathers up is the price is high now? Buy Steem and power up? I looked at block trades in our wallet. The fees for bitcoin there are not to high. Is that a good way to trade SBD? Actually I'm planning to visit my parents in Chicago this summer and thinking that this SBD can somehow be converted to support part of my trip.
Steemit has become the first thing I look at on my computer. I am actually working on become more disciplined, but it is a great place to learn things and interact with people.
When I started in May 2017, it was about how can I crack this nut and make some cryptos. Now I look forward to hearing from the people I follow and interacting with them.
You have helped me to write better content so thanks for that!
Your reasons to invest in Steem cryptos and invest in one's account make complete sense to me!
While driving I realized that I forgot to mention who and how many people I have told about Steem.
Mother, sister, cousin and at least 10 friends. About half of them are on it now!