STEEM is going to $10, does anyone have any questions?

 Will STEEM go to $10 by December 2017? Will STEEM go to $10 by 2020?This is a topic of many previous posts on steemit by other authors. Some of the more recent are included below. One of the most recent and better quality posts on this topic is by Jerry Banfield of course.I'd like to put my spin on the analysis. I welcome all feedback if you have questions or comments.First topic.  Is site traffic, users, and popularity rising? Yes. By leaps and bounds. When @jerrybanfield posted about $10 STEEM just two months ago, ALEXA listed steemit.com as rank 4,550 in US and rank 12,000 globally.  

ALEXA reports today that steemit is ranked 1,363 in the US and 3,000 globally.

That is phenomenal growth in just two months. This trend bodes well for the future.A recent post by @stephenkendal provided evidence of more than 2K new users per day added throughout June. This leads to the conclusion that steemit could surpass 650,000 users by end of 2017. With HF20 allegedly focused on improving on-boarding for new users, 650K seems well within reach for EOY 2017.Good news: evidence seems undeniable that steemit.com popularity is increasing at a phenomenal rate, and users are being added at an exceptionally high rate.But now the unfortunate cold water in the face unhappy dose of reality. None of this information is a secret. 

This is public knowledge at this point. And if you believe in the efficient market hypothesis, all of this information is already baked into the current price of STEEM at $1.23, leading to a 21st level ranking for cryptocurrencies by market cap on coinmarketcap.com The efficient market hypothesis (EMH) is an investment theory that states it is impossible to "beat the market" because market efficiency causes existing prices to always incorporate and reflect all relevant information. (from investopedia.com) The market predicts and already expects that steemit.com will be in the top 1000 sites on ALEXA by EOY 2017.The market predicts and already expects that steemit.com users will surpass 650K unique users by EOY 2017.And the price of STEEM is sitting at $1.23, even with all this information being public knowledge.
So, what are the realistic chances of STEEM going to $10?In my opinion the chances are still good. But it won't happen based on the future unrolling exactly as already predicted.For STEEM to go to $10, we need new information and new data, that is currently not known or predicted.What could this be?  Some ideas below on what new information or data could potentially drive STEEM to $10.

Crypto-currency total market cap expands from $100M to $800M 

The total market cap exploded from approximately $30M to almost $120M in just two months in 2017. 4X gain in just two months. Not a stretch to imagine or postulate an additional 8X gain in the next 40 months. Crypto total market cap could feasibly get to $800M by EOY 2020. STEEM follows along for the ride, but does not change or improve it's relationship to BTC pricing.   STEEM price is pulled up by 8X as the total market goes up by 8X.  Presto, STEEM is $10 by 2020

A solid advertising model evolves on steemit, to further monetize the platform

We already have early adopters on the platform who are exploring how to use steemit to effectively deliver advertisements and presumably generate business revenue. Take a look at @bookingteam.com. An early adopter trying to develop an advertising model for their business. They have enough whale support to regularly get upvoted and get their advertising posts onto the trending and hot pages. If this particular model were to mature, the takeaway is advertisers would choose to buy a significant stake in STEEM and power up, so they can use their SP to push their posts onto the trending and hot pages and secure views.  Advertising.  I'm not sure that model will take off. Perhaps it will? Perhaps there are models that could work on steemit? But ultimately social media sites have historically had to develop an advertising model to realize their full financial potential.  8X increase in site financial potential could be explained with the emergence or introduction of an effective advertising model on steemit.  Presto, STEEM is $10 by 2020. 

New Communities implementation and support on Steemit rolls out with unbelievably excellent set of capabilities

Steemit is still awkward to use in terms of easily finding information, creating your own system for storing/accessing information, creating your own community of interest of topics (like reddit) or communities of classes of people (like FB).  Steemit is not as user friendly as it needs to be if the goal is hundreds of millions users, which would mean primarily low tech users to get to that volume. The future trends for steemit growth are known and understood based on current platforms capabilities. But if the Communities implementation is exceptional, the current predictions for growth might be grossly underestimating platform growth.  Communities could be so well done that the rate of adoption by new users and platform traffic and popularity increases by 8X. Presto, STEEM is $10 by 2020.

Some combination of previous three factors or three similar factors

For each case above, we looked at an 8X increase in STEEM price due to one single cause. But it is also conceivable that all three of the factors above occur, but with a reduced scope of impact.  Perhaps each of the previous three factors can only drive a 2X increase in STEEM price by themselves.  But by simple math, 2x2x2 = 8X.  Presto, STEEM is $10 by 2020

But DaveB, $10 by 2020 is such a ridiculously low estimate that you are being way TOO PESSIMISTIC !!

Steemit appears to prefer and reward optimism. And doesn't reward pessimism. Am I being pessimistic reporting that STEEM price could rise to $10  by 2020?Make sure you understand what that means before you jump to an assumption of pessimism.  STEEM going to $10 by 2020 represents an 8X increase versus today's price.  This is approximately 2X increase per year, for the next three consecutive years. 

STEEM at $10 by 2020 is 100% increase per year, for the next three consecutive years

There is no other investment that is available to normal investor's, that would provide returns remotely close to this level of return.  "Normal investor" as distinguished from accredited investor. An accredited investoris a person or entity that can deal with securities not registered with financial authorities by satisfying one of the requirements regarding income, net worth, asset size, governance status or professional experience (from investopedia).If you buy $1,250 of STEEM today, you could have more than $10K by 2020, if STEEM grows to $10 by thenIf you buy $125,000 of STEEM today, you could have more than $1M by 2020, if STEEM grows to $10 by thenIf you are a whale today with $1.25M or more of STEEM, you could have more than $10M by 2020, if STEEM grows to $10 by then I know this forecast and assessment will be disappointing and viewed as dismal to some.  If you were predicting STEEM price going to $10 in the next two months or the next eight months, then my prediction of STEEM going to $10 in 40 months is going to seem lame.My push-back is predictions of an 8X price increase in 2 or 8 months sounds like flim-flam. It sounds like a sham. It sounds like you are running a pump and dump. It sounds like you are selling lottery tickets. It sounds like typical marketing BS for every known Ponzi scheme. And in my opinion this cheapens the platform, by promising or predicting something that sounds too good to be true. If it walks and talks like a duck, it is probably a duck.Step back and realize that an investment that can grow by 100% per year, for three consecutive years, could be the best investment opportunity you will ever get for the rest of your life, for any investment, and including the case that you are only 18 today and you live to 98.

8X gain in three years would be phenomenal.   And is realistically feasible with STEEM.

Thanks for reading to this point. Please upvote or resteem if you found the material thought provoking.All substantial comments will be appreciated, pro or con, and will be replied to.STEEM On!!