Do you want Steem to flourish? Here is my suggestion.
The price of steem is going almost only one way (down) since the all time high, hype in the middle of July this year. I think I know why and the solution for turning the price around to bullish faster.
The wealth in steem is concentrated in the Steemit wallet and a list of whale wallets. Investors, don't want to contribute to that the people behind these wallets get even richer. That is my best guess.
Of course the Steemit wallet is one thing (around 50% of all wealth in Steem) and the whale wallets are another thing.
So what is the solution to this problem?
Its easy! Give the steem in the Steemit wallet to new users. $100 of each verified sign up. Yes, you read right, $100!
So why this give away?
This will attract a lot of new users (in rough numbers, 18500 new users).
These new users will create more activity on Steem / Steemit and after this giveaway, new users will come, only be course of the platform. New users will see their friends and others make money on the platform, socialize and get free valuable information. After people have seen this, they will sign up themself.
Investors will then begin to buy Steem, be course they don't feel like they just give the money away to Steemit inc and the whales.
The concentration of wealth on the whale accounts, can be partly distributed by the whales powering down and selling the steem. (Voluntarily of course)
I think the steem price will have to go a lot lower, before steem will flourish. This can happen fast or slow. The current setup will be slow and with this suggestion it will be fast.
This is solely my idea and is based on my observations on the platform since august. I would like to see Steem being used by a great number of people, I think the fastest way for this to happen, is the above idea. Alternatively I think there is a chance that the adaptation of Steem will go very slow.
Its all about creating the right economy. Many have pointed out that the concentration of wealth on few hands in Steem, is the biggest problem. The above suggestion will create new users, with incentives to stay on the platform and great things will happen from there. More people = more new ideas = more new innovations = a thriving economy.
If you like this suggestion, please upvote, if enough people upvote then the suggestion will be seen by the witnesses.
Instant bribes might not be a good idea, as people may join for the wrong reasons and I think the current self-filtering for persistent players may be a good thing until getting the right formula for organic growth. I like your enthusiasm though!
This is how for instance Uber make very fast growth, by giving away free rides to new signups. It could be another number then $100, it could be $50.... but there are 2 purposes of the giveaway, 1. instant new users. 2. no more extreme wealth concentrated in the steemit wallet. The steemit wallet could keep, like 10% or 1% of the wealth, and it will still be alot of money, when steem is facebook size.
I know my suggestion is a little wild, but I truly believe it will work.
Investors are scared away by that steemit wallet, that is my best guess.
Personally I don't see the Steemit wallet as an issue with it being the account that is already used to pay starting amounts into new user wallets as well as powered down (I think I remember hearing this) to pay for company expenses like salaries, any ad/marketing expenses they incur, etc. versus being a whale (actual user) account. The steemit account doesn't vote, post, etc...just being more a holding acct for Steem that's not been released onto the market. (I'll admit I've not delved into this in quite a while, so I easily could be mistaken on things here.)
It's an interesting idea for sure. On the one hand I do have the concern of 'new user signup abuse' which I remember seeing months back where people signed up 50+ accts at the time of $10 each (this was before the more stringent verification was in place,) powered them down and transferred/sold the Steem each week to an exchange like bittrex.
On the other hand...isn't there now a powerdown requirement that each user has to generate/buy in at least 10 times the starting amount of Steem (or $..I forget) before they can powerdown, similar to how poker sites had in place before 'bonus sign up money' could be cashed out from their sites? If that's the case, it sort of requires the users to actually be active before they could cash that out, but also could upset people with that limitation not matching their expectation of 'free money.' But that honestly never bothered me personally when I did used to play online poker...I really didn't take long to earn/pay in more than the required amount.
I don't have a great answer here, just my thoughts on it.
I personally think more of the Steemit wallet as similar to a central bank, in that it is used to regulate coin inflation or in other words quantitive easing etc. I don't have any issue with it myself and think it can stimulate the economy by funding projects that improve the eco-system which would more organically attract users due to increased utility. I may be wrong here, but this would seem logical to me.
I would think that giveaways on such a scale would lead immediately to a large sell off by those given the rewards......thi could totally crash the economy - just my opinion.
Disagree with giving away STEEM value. Think more that STEEM needs to attract people that will add value and get value for themselves for their skills and talents. Flow of value in input and output value is more important as moving STEEM may have the greatest value. As STEEM moves it provides more author and curation rewards between users. So people need to use their STEEM.
I have a feeling that the price of steem will go even lower, unless there are something very interesting in the roadmap.
Its not really a problem for me that the price go lower and its not really a problem for steemit. I still think its against Anarco-capitalism logic that the steemit wallet is 50% of so of the system. That could be changed later, with the lower and lower price, I think many investors will not enter before that happens.
When I say its not a problem for me that Steem have a low price, its true, on the other hand I would like steem to be used by more people faster that's why I have this suggestion. It is a problem for me that people today use social media based on centralized systems that are censored, that's the real issue and that's why I want to speed up the adaptation of steemit.
Hi @lasseehlers, Interesting ... like @kevinwong, I think you have touched upon an important factor in the health of steem and its value. To me steemit is a three way fusion between blockchain technology, social media and cryptocurrency.
Clearly steem does not function without the blockchain. Steemit, by default, has to be free of censorship other than certain posts being 'hidden', which lays itself open to abuse by illicit subscribers.
The question is, given the functionality of steemit, would you use it as a social media platform, disregarding the rewards? The honest answer has to be 'no' because it is completely impersonal (therefore does not meet the definition of 'social media'). The functionality would not attract the people who really make social media work - Like Mrs Goggins who sends a photo of her budgie sitting on her cat's head - at the age of 76 she has no problem sending this message to her 14 year old grandson in Mumbai.
I see you use your real name. In social contexts, such as social media, this is the 'norm'. 95% of people do not because steemit is more a commercial (SP) hunt than social media.
In order for steem to flourish I believe that steemit needs to become a proper social media environment. Anyone who says it is needs to explain to me why there are so many fake votes, posts being rewarded when they go largely unread and you need all these guilds which largely feature the top 10% of the steem wealth.
Antisocial by definition!
Which of your friends would you invite to steemit if there was no reward?
So how does that impact upon the value of steem?
If you release the 43% of SP held by steemit, the company is put at risk - an added down-kicker to the value of steem!