We're approaching the end of 2017 and as I reflect on the broader #cryptocurrency market and its incredible bull run over the past year, I decided to supplement my previous post about this topic with an additional one.
On December 20th, 2017, Ned Scott, one of the co-founders of Steemit Inc, tweeted the following:
@Ned's tweet immediately caught my attention and I responded in agreement while referencing my previous post in reflecting on why steem has lagged the performance of #bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
I agreed on the basis of the potential of this platform and its foundational blockchain to open up opportunities for content creators to be rewarded for their online contributions, but its potential is distinctly different from its present form.
For steem to be valued among the Top 10 cryptocurrencies in the world today, its market capitalization would have to be about $7 billion USD, per the current ranking on Coinmarketcap at the time of this posting. The number ten slot is currently a tug of war between Monero and EOS. Interestingly, EOS is in part the creation of Steemit's other co-founder, Dan Larimer.
In consideration of Steem's usage level and its association with #steemit, is it worth $7 billion USD today? It's hard to measure valuation in the cryptocurrency space like one would with publicly traded stocks, but the market in both assets ultimately votes with its dollars and the price on the screen reflects the present consensus among the investment and trading communities.
As such, it is clear that crypto investors and enthusiasts simply are not in agreement with Ned's assertion. While steem has risen in recent weeks and currently trades above $3 USD, its market capitalization is still less than $1 billion USD. That is no doubt an admirable accomplishment for a platform that has been online for less than two years, but it is still a far cry from $7 billion USD or more.
Assuming steem were in fact valued at about $7 billion USD and a Top 10 cryptocurrency today, its price per unit at the current supply of roughly 260M would be about $27 each, give or take. I don't see this happening unless more content contributors from Medium, YouTube, etc. flock to Steemit en masse.
Even then, the site in its current form makes it difficult for new users to broadcast their content since whale accounts regularly dominate the trending posts. Content discovery is also lacking without a built-in and robust search functionality.
Steem itself is not offered on many exchanges and its trading volume in terms of liquidity is quite limited. This likely is another major setback in its quest for glory. At the time of this posting, its 24 hour trading volume is about $6M USD, whereas Monero is about $250M USD and EOS is about $350M USD.
So what will it take for the crypto market to catch on with Ned's viewpoint and for steem to become a Top 10 cryptocurrency? I welcome your feedback in the comments below!
Steemit is still in beta phase and has done great since last 6 months if you look back. Now we have many steem promoters those were not present 6 months back. So It will grow slowly in 2018 as well
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Yes #steemit is still in beta mode but perhaps this is why #steem is not yet a Top 10 crypto. Until the full capabilities of the blockchain are made evident via this platform, I just don't see how steem can achieve Top 10 status.
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Yeah, nice one..
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.......Even then, the site in its current form makes it difficult for new users to broadcast their content since whale accounts regularly dominate the trending posts. Content discovery is also lacking without a built-in and robust search functionality....
a very valid observation made. now in as much as steemit is still less that 2yrs i think one thing that would really improve its value is not just in the amount of people flocking and signing up on the site. its got to be based on the originality and value of contents posted. i have seen not so valuable content gaining rewards based on bot votes and associations... to me that defeats the quest for improved value. value cant be based on usage. really on what basis are the rewards being distributed?
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Thanks for the feedback. I think the motto for the site is flawed. "Money talks" is not going to attract serious content contributors who can quickly see that it is not the quality of content that is rewarded, but rather one's established popularity and ability to harness support from whale users. Steemit is essentially a plutocracy - the users that have the most steem power have disproportionate control over what posts trend and hence the visibility of content. Minnows are forced to utilize upvote bots to have any hope at attracting attention to their posts. The bots serve a purpose in that regard, but in reality are a manifestation of an underlying flaw to the reward distribution system itself. I simply don't see this as viable for the long-term, but who knows.
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I think this is a very good point. At present, new users effectively have to 'buy in' to get traction. Early investments in Steem Power and SBD for promotion via bidding bots are the most effective ways to gain an audience. Even then, it's hard to get meaningful engagement from that audience. I've all but given up posting on my own page, although I have some long-term projects that I continue to run because I believe in the potential.
I'm optimistic that SMT's will break down some of the plutocracy, especially if they are adopted by existing media companies. Effectively, they would allow web-sites to build their own 'walled gardens' that you have to have their SMT to post on. Steem and SP would still have some impact, but they can follow their own curation and reward logic using the SMT and have their own Trending/Hot or other content-pushing algorithms. Even though the plutocracy would still be there with STEEM, the SMT-driven sites could develop their own communities that are only minimally impacted by the plutocracy.
A lot depends on effective integration/development of SMT and the toolkit that is built to support it, which we have zero visibility into at present.
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Thanks for the comment. I have all but given up on posting too. This post and the one preceding it are probably the last ones I'll do for awhile, though I may still comment on occasion. I hardly ever used voting bots before these but it is a night and day difference when one uses them - in fact, for new users without any followings it is the only way to actually capture some value out of this platform.
Twisted, isn't it? It's not about the quality of what you contribute, but rather how many SBDs you preload your account with and your ability to outbid others for bot votes. And yet somehow Ned thinks that such a broken system is worth billions. The market isn't oblivious to the comatose development pace of this site over the past two years and has valued steem accordingly. Shame, really.
Will SMTs uplift the image of the steem blockchain in the broader crypto community? Time will tell. I see it as more of a deflection of accountability - that, or they are admitting that steemit is a hopeless experiment and are trying to repackage steem as having far more utility beyond serving as a foundational basis for a inherently flawed blogging platform that has devolved into multi level marketing and travel photo posts senselessly reaping $100s of SBD and steem.
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I think you made so valid points. In order to go mainstream the platform has to have better search options and and a more engaging user face.
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Agreed - the built in google search functionality just looks cheap to me, especially for a platform that aspires to be associated with a Top 10 cyrptocurrency as its underlying blockchain!
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I hate the google search on steem it, a much needed improvement. I can see it going to top 10 if it becomes more user friendly.
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I agree. The google search is laughable actually. I have it embedded on my personal blog site but that is to be expected for a self-made website. However, it is not to be expected of a social media platform whose co-founder asserts that its underlying blockchain should be valued among the Top 10 cryptocurrencies in the world. Many improvements are indeed needed. A more user friendly interface would certainly help.
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Interesting discussion @syncubate. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I tend to agree with you. Steem is quite a long way from being a Top 10 Crypto and there are many improvements that need to be made on Steemit. Progress is possible though, so I will remain consistent on here. Have upvoted, followed and re-steemed.
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Progress is indeed possible. But steem has lagged considerably compared to the leaders of the crypto space and if it is ever going to rise to being among the Top 10, corrective improvements and further innovation will need to occur.
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Agreed.
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I do think we need to overcome the stigma that any "get paid for blogging" or "work from home" website is necessarily a scam- it's a comment I recieve often from people who I tell about steemit. On top of that, there's our high learning curve and the suspicion many have that steemit isn't stable over the long term.
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I agree. I think the "Money Talks" motto on steemit discourages many serious writers/bloggers from partaking in the platform. Couple that with the consistently trending posts made by whales. I mean the fact that there is even a stratification of users here (whales versus minnows) is likely a turn off for many. I like to think that I contribute thoughtful content but having been a user of the platform for over six months now, I simply am unable to attract attention to my posts unless I use the bots for resteeming and upvoting. It is the game one must play and it is inextricable to steemit as it exists today.
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Oh, definitely. I've only recently weaned myself off of bots, and I can only do that thanks to the excellent science and stem curation support on steemit. (Notably @steemstem ) Even so, there are still some bots and stuff I use.
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Thanks for the tip regarding curation support! Do you have any suggestions on how I may be able to get the above post curated? I would like to spur further discussion regarding the subject of steem's value, especially in consideration of Ned's assertion that it should be a Top 10 cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
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Hmm. Well, it wouldn't fit on @steemstem, but there are other decent curation groups out there. @qurator offers a lifetime upvote between ~.06 and ~.90 SBD on up to one of your posts per day for just a two SBD signup fee, though you have to post regular quality content to join. (You'd definitely fit.)The Unmentionables (@unmentionable ) also do a decent job curating their members. There are a lot of curators out there, you just have to find ones that work for you.
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Thanks again for the feedback. I will look into those.
Regrettably, I am unsure how sustainable this platform is under its current paradigm. It is simply too difficult to navigate and establish an audience as a new content contributor. I have tried with little success and only now am I garnering some attention after utilizing bots - I swore I wouldn't for the longest time but I see it is the only way to get a new post to trend and have a chance at visibility among the whales.
Considering steemdollar is now $7 and steem itself can't seem to hold above $3, I am simply dumbfounded by Ned's assertion that it should be a Top 10 cryptocurrency. His tweet is now pinned on his twitter page.
My first post on this subject was prompted by a similar theme discussed by @ats-david in a post entitled "Why Does Steem Lag in a Bull Market for Cryptocurrencies?" and further commentary from users like @davebrewer. They had some insightful thoughts on this but it remains to be seen if anyone with an ability to drive change at Steemit Inc is even listening.
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Yeah, I've got some real doubts about the sustainability of the platform as well. That being said, I have found several high quality communities (including the ones I mentioned) that are full of interesting people promoting quality content. At this point I think that growing circles like that is something I'm more capable of than contributing to any top down change. For instance, I've basically self-appointed myself the guardian of the #geology tag (not least because I'm by far the most frequent poster in it) and I've started giving advice and assistance to minnows swimming around in it. One of the biggest sources of attrition for minnows is that long, dragging early period where you get zero attention, and I've been able to help some of them past that who might have otherwise burnt out on steemit. (Though I hesitate to take that much credit- who knows, they might have done perfectly well without me.) I think that if more people sought out minnows to tutor and shepherd along, rather than leaving it as a sink or swim environment, that steemit would be a much healthier place.
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I've been a user since the Summer and actually took several months break from the site after quickly growing disenchanted with it. I've returned only recently and I guess my initial concerns are resurfacing as I see that nothing has really changed.
The Steemit crew is talking about Smart Media Tokens but I look at Steemit still in a beta version after nearly two years and I have to scratch my head at it all. If you look at Ned's wallet page it is sad actually - just abunch of users sending small amounts of SBD to him pleading for hand outs. I am not sure what kind of image this conveys to investors/traders in the crypto space, and it is no surprise to me that this is not a Top 10 crypto.
I appreciate your feedback nonetheless and if you know of anyone else that may have some input on this post or could share it with whale users that may actually care about the long-term viability of the platform and could potentially influence constructive changes, feel free to spread the word.
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SMT will surely increase the price of steem. Lots of investors will invest in the SMT's and thus it will increase the price of steem.
Infact I have few ideas that I will start here, just waiting for its launch.
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I think the launch of SMTs may renew interest in the platform from the broader crypto community but it will ultimately boil down to the execution of the idea and how widely accepted it is.
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I think steem is way undervalued compared to the other cryptos
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Thanks for the comment. What do you think fair value is for it?
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This post received a 38% upvote from @morwhale team thanks to @syncubate! For more information, click here! , TeamMorocco! .
STEEM Price : 3.246 $
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You got a 33.33% upvote from @upyou thanks to @syncubate!
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@originalworks
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Steem grow very fast less and make place in top 10 coin this information is very useful i hope steem will increase rapidly at the speed of rocket. Thank you for sharing this valuable information with us keep it up
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This post has received a 44.44 % upvote from @moneymatchgaming thanks to: @syncubate. Upvote this Post to Support the MMG Community on Steemit! :)
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nice i upvote and resteem
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@syncubate you got an awesome upvote
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Thank you, lays!
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