That Steem investor and the Steem investment layer
The other day while walking around Helsinki after the Ed Sheeran concert, my wife was talking about what it must be like to be recognizable in the streets for what you do as a job. The conversation then drifted toward reputation, clothing labels, appearances and how someone is more likely to be listened to if they look the part or have some level of wealth.
While my wife thinks the idea of labels meaning something is stupid, she definitely judges people on their looks - because she is human and we all do - and even the blind want their partners to be considered good looking even though they will never see them.
A couple days before this I was talking to @galenkp and he mentioned something about his Steem Power and then I thought I would have look at his ranking. He is currently #1364 of the largest Steem Power holders with about 10700 Steem. For me, I am #377 of the largest holders of Steem Power with 51200 SP. What this means is there are about 1000 accounts between 10,700 and 50,200 SP - which is almost a 5-fold difference. That is not many is it?
My wife still is very skeptical about the future value of Steem, however I was telling her that if it does what it potentially could, not only would we be significantly better off financially (invested for life changing results, not subsistence), it might get to the point that I am recognizable as I am not one of the people who has hidden his face and name.
That is quite a strange concept, but not necessarily so strange if one considers the potential of Steem beyond the price of it. Yes, if prices went insane, my account would be worth a fair bit but, that is actually not the most valuable aspect of Steem Power in my opinion. The power of Steem can be exemplified in this comment:
Have been a premium user for a while, actually 2 years today. Will keep my Steem and use it as well, like giving you an upvote without losing any of my stack. @felander
While he talks about giving a vote without losing his stack, what this actually demonstrates is that he is investing into me, my content and my future. Now, let's say in five years from now the price of Steem is 20 dollars which is a 80x shift from the price today. That would give my current full SP vote a boost from 70 cents to 56 dollars, meaning that I could deliver 560 dollars of vote value per day with my 50,000 SP, I could invest that into projects, it could pay for developers, it could buy my stake in a business - and, I wouldn't lose my stack.
What people might not realise yet is even if they only have a vote of 1 cent today, with no increase in stake they might be able to invest 4 dollars a day when Steem hits 20. That doesn't sound like much does it? Well, that really depends on what you are investing into doesn't it. Imagine if what you invested into was Bitcoin when it was sitting at 1 dollar. 4 BTC a day.
And this is what people have to remember when looking at blockchain industry and tokenization - there are going to be thousands of projects and businesses built that are going to be looking for various kinds of funding and, *the blockchains are able to handle many small amounts by design. Own some stake now might get you a bit of a return, but later it could make you a significant investor in a host of startups.
Potentially, there will be investment funds that will take votes and create portfolios of investments with returns that reflect the amount of shares a person has bought with their votes. This changes the way investing happens and, it changes the types of people who are able to invest as pretty much, anyone will have some capabilities to put something into it. there is of course still risk in what is invested into because a lot of the projects are going to fail -much like most of the shitcoins are going to go to zero at some point because they have nothing propping them up.
What this means is that while there can be plenty of holders, the "inflation pool" becomes the, investment pool, and in many ways, it has already. When those with stake vote, what they are doing is investing their potential into what they vote upon. Some do this for return, some do it for a future position.
For all of those who have voted on me over the last two and a half years, they have now come to the understanding that I am here long-term and willing to participate and, willing to invest. That means that when there are those investment opportunities and funds, they are likely to have an investment partner they can trust and someone they can turn to. As I have said before, the person behind the post is more important than any individual post they may create.
It is also this investment potential through Steem that will eventually lead to earnings of Steem on content as it stands today to disappear and shift to the SMTs and the like. Steem becomes the investment vehicle that powers the development of the ecosystem on and off the platform. Off platform? Absolutely.
In time, Investing with Steem will cross over the digital boundaries and deeper and wider into the real world business models of products and services in ways that continually gather various values onto the Blockchain, as well as connect more and more people and use cases to it. The value of Steem will rise not only because of price, it will become a full ecosystem that crisscrosses through lives and straddles personal and professional interactions.
You might not see it as you might be focusing on your earnings, short-term, the state of the Trending page, bidbots, arguments, the next hardfork, Ned, or something else that keeps your perspective of Steem narrow. But, just because you wear blinders, doesn't mean Steem is confined within your range of view. And while you are focusing your attention on individual points, the ecosystem is expanding outward through people who see the Steem world in a very different way than yourself and are far from your view.
Steem is the most interesting investment opportunity that has been around for a very long time because investing into it opens up a potential plethora of other investment opportunities that can be negotiated in a range of ways without losing the stack.
While an investment might fail, all that gets lost is time and potential.
But, I don't mind that much if people choose not to invest into Steem long-term because as I see it, in time the Steem Power will end up in the hands of those who want to use it to generate value, not to sell to extract it. I envisage that there are going to be an increasing number of potential investment opportunities arising for Steem holders over the next decade and, some of those businesses are going to skyrocket in value and take on unicorn statuses.
Steem can be the kickstart program for thousands of projects where investment ownership potential is open to anyone with a little stake. Partnerships created in a trustless system to empower creators of many kinds around the world and at many levels.
It sounds pretty awesome to me.
Until it gets there, I will keep working toward it, and accumulating along the way.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
Steem is certainly fun times. I came a couple of years ago because STEEM was the only blockchain project with a significant number of end users.
If the price of Steem goes up, I have so much SBI and MAPX that it might be a waste of my time to do anything but post. Heh.
Seriously though, Steem has a bit of needed energy. We only need a few projects to go big time for the price to jump significantly.
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Yes, one viral app and a few with a bit of global traction and this place fills up fast. I am hoping the SPS will help a little with this.
This is why I'm no longer focusing on rewards but instead on trying to add value with every interaction in Steem.
Be it a post, a thoughtful comment, or just a vote I want the things I do here to bring value to steem.
Everything is transparent and people are watching. The community will reward your intentions.
Those who seek to constantly extract value rather than add value are not the type that will benefit when Steem becomes an infrastructure layer.
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This is what a lot of people are missing and it can be fun and still value adding. The extractors worrying about each fraction are unlikely the ones who will enjoy themselves, nor stick around.
Correct.
This should be up on a billboard somewhere. Steem is risky as far as downside is concerned, but the potential of Steem is impossible to ignore. The businesses, the relationships and the investments that can be made here are limitless and the community is still so niche and so small. Just imagine if the Steem community doubled in size (only about 5000 more active daily users - if that).
I find it incredible there are so few people here on Steem, and so few people on Steem who actually understand the potential.
Right now I would be happy to be recognized amount a group of friends on here 😁 I have so far to go in this community. But I do recognize names from my previous experience in steemit (you being one of them) not for how much steem you have but for your thoughts and insights and for you taking the time to write and respond to many of the comments you receive. I think that, a reputation built on trust and truth is more recognizable the the amount of steem one holds.
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I think this too, but for new people coming in, they will see holdings first. There are some people I trust a lot here, some not at all - the way it perhaps should be.
Why the new account?
I needed a new start. Something that represents me as I am now as opposed to who I was in years past. It kinda stinks having to rebuild a reputation and blog and perhaps followers, but that is something I am willing to put the effort in.
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I think the biggest value comes from the community and the concept you highlighted from @felander of being able to reward others and earn curation rewards without reducing ones personal stack of the coin. Now being able to do that with multiple coins at once just magnifies this benefit.
The speed of sending STEEM with no fees also is a whole other component that I'm surprised so few people ever emphasize. As in no one I can recall hearing speak of it.
The only thing that gives me doubt about the future of the coin is the constant downward pressure on price that comes from a company selling it in large volumes (which thankfully STINC has stopped doing as much now that they have ads) and individuals earning and selling instead of powering up. Which of these forces will win is the question, the upward pressure of people buying into an amazing deal, or the downward pressure of people taking advantage of that amazing deal only with a short-term horizon?
I think we sort of get to see the effects of a global economy at play here too, and what that means for anyone in a high cost of living location where "good returns" means something very different than for those who can live on far less.
I have mentioned this many times ;D
I think that at this point of the game, it might actually be a good thing as it will eventually spread to those who want it more and as prices rise, those who sold will not be able to buy in as deep.
I think you are right about the global economy. What I find incredible is that so few from the developing nations are powering up. Yes, they can live off less but that also means that if they hold a bit and it pans out, they will have a massive gain locally.
Teach a man to fish...
Dear @indigoocean, @tarazkp
Amazing comment!
I'm glad that you've mentioned free and instant transactions. I would like to ask both of you a question, that have been bothering me for quite some time:
all those transactions on steem blockchain need to be processed by nodes, right? so to maintain entire infrastructure it does cost resources (mostly money). And Steemit Inc. is kind of forced to keep selling part of their reserves to cover those costs.
Am I right so far? None of it really is free. There are some REAL costs. It's just we do not pay them straight forward. All transactions are free, however costs do exist and are being somehow covered. Which does look like "hidden taxation" system.
Did STINC really stopped selling STEEM? As far as I know they reduced it greately, but are far from stopping. I wonder if you know how it really is.
Yours
Piotr
My understanding is that the costs are more the pay to witnesses than anything else. STINC has been relying more on ad revenue and less in selling STEEM, but I don’t know if they’ve completely stopped. Regardless, whether the transaction is sending steem to another account or posting to the blockchain, you use RCs to do it. Supposedly those were created with a formula that makes it cost the right amount of RCs for the cost it extracts from the blockchain.
Dear @indigoocean
I just realized that I never actually thanked you for your amazing comment. I absolutely appreciate it.
Perhaps you could also visit my latest post and share your own view on discussed topic. I would love to hear your opinion.
Yours
Piotr
I saw a post about the upcoming steemfest, and one of the people are going to accept steem as payment at their coffee place or something. I don't remember who it was or the post, but a real life example of steem moving beyond the block chain.
Yes, there are a few who take steem and in some places in the baltics, Samsung stores take it too.
Quoted by Tarazkp, I am flattered :-)
Some might fail but only one has to go unicorn and both your stack and what you delegated for will shoot up. double whammy
I hope there are a couple ;D
Sounds like a dream come true for me as I have always wanted to be a Venture Capital investor and this could be a great way to do it here and elsewhere! One of the reasons I hedge the possibility by being present and engaging.
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Just imagine if there are 10,000 Venture capitalists here at various levels distributed globally and what they could do.
I can't wait for the day that i can say "I remember when @Tarazkp was telling us about the potential of Steem....and every bit of his vision came true!
Dear @tarazkp
Another great piece of work. You're becoming my favourite author lately :)
It amaze me that you can talk about value of Steem with your wife. Not many people out there may have similar conversations with their 'better halfs' :)
Send her my honest greetings.
I hope you do realize, that there isn't that many people out there who still have a dream about STEEM ever being worth that much. Let's face it, if Steemit Inc will be selling such a large quantities of STEEM and at the same time will not do any buy-back from advertising revenue, then this alone will be pointing just one direction. Increasing selling pressure.
I wish to be as optimistic as you are. I'm not saying that you're wrong. I'm only saying that I don't have that faith.
luckily I'm here because of people, not because of profits :)
Yours
Piotr