The Great American STEEM Pump!

Did anyone else notice this today?

Steem is proving to be a very good hedge against bitcoin in the last 24 hours. We are seeing a coin that hardforked (ETH) take an absolute beating during the Bitfinex theft, and a damaged coin (ETC) burst its way back from the grave like a Phoenix.

Then there is the STEEM Dollar. Apparently, ETC is not the only coin immune from the BTC fall. In fact, it may be establishing itself as a hedge against wild swings in BTC. Why would that be?

I believe that trust is an important factor in the value of electronic currency, and right now there are some major questions being asked about ETH and BTC. Many investors are piling into ETC because it is cheap and easy. But does it have legs? Will a strong team of developers come in, or will it always rely upon the ETH devs to pave the way for them?

STEEM is a good answer to the question of trust, because there are already tens of thousands of users and early adopters who are actually using and creating content on STEEM. They are investing heavily, and evangelizing it to their friends and family. The reputation system released today, alone, doubles trust in the platform, if not more. Who doesn't love seeing the bots just disappear? What magic is this? :)

If this is Steemit Beta, I look forward to seeing the full, polished platform.