Crypto Crash and The Search For Meaning While We All Go Broke

richardfyates (66) · 6 years ago (edited)

I am super new to crypto, like only a few months into it (and there's a STEEP learning curve,) so I never new the HALCYON DAYS of Lambos and early retirement. Just this morning, I watched a couple of videos created by former Steemit enthusiasts who were talking about how this platform has betrayed it's user base, and how the platform isn't sustainable because it doesn't have an advertising revenue stream and is, therefore, a big scam that helps the rich get richer while keeping the new folks poor and powerless... However, speaking as a new adopter of the platform, (I'm three weeks old today,) I have to say that I love this place. I've already connected with several folks through Steemit who I never would have met any other way.

I've read articles written by a street artist who sells prints for food money and seeks out hostels to shower in; I found a guy who posts adverts and images from old comics and pop culture memorabilia and we've swapped a few comments; I've connected with one or two artists who are also active on DADA.nyc, and I can see some of the artwork they create outside of that platform (which has very limited creation tools!) To me, these experiences have REAL VALUE. Maybe these aren't big MONEY MAKING opportunities, but so what? The folks who are angry because they can't make hundreds of dollars per post anymore, who only see value in dollar signs, have an extremely limited understand of what can be valuable (if you ask me.)

I've been writing and drawing for forty years, and I've been sharing my work on social networks for at least the last ten years WITHOUT making money for my creations. (I draw and write because I love to draw and write,) and now, with this new (TO ME) platform, I can share my work, get some interesting feedback, and maybe make a few cents for my work (or in one case almost TWENTY BUCKS! To me, that's big money!) I can also give someone whose writing or art or photography I enjoy some love (and a fraction of a penny... I'm still really new...)

As far as making money goes, I have ALREADY made more from writing on this platform that I have in six years of posting on WordPress---and that's in just three weeks! Sure, I haven't made that much in ECONOMIC value, but that's not the only thing that I'm creating for. I've also had people make interesting comments on my work (genuine engagement, or at least the appearance of engagement---maybe they were just fishing for my .001 up-vote cash---but I try to be optimistic;) I had one post get over 400 up-votes (in the 120 book reviews posted to my other social media networks, I've never had more than a dozen or a dozen and a half "likes" on a single review before,) and I've had a crash course in this weird cryptocurrency / blockchain world that's been happening right under my nose for almost a decade without ever coming to my attention before. (I love to learn new things, so this was a cool discovery for me.)

My point is that for me, having not lived through the "good-old-days" of cryptocurrency being a path to instant fortune, I'm excited by this new, more dismal environment, which requires hard work, engagement, and genuine interest to make any headway. I'm drawn to Steemit for its potential to be a new venue to share my art and writing, to find new creative types with whom I can swap stories and art and pop-culture references, and I'm excited by the possibility of making even a few pennies at a time for the work that I've been creating and posting online since about 2004 with ZERO compensation. It may not seem like much of a return on a creator's effort anymore, compared to the "beautiful dream" that the platform started as, but it's still giving a new user (like me) a fun, challenging, novel experience, and I'm going to give it a whirl for a while!

P.S. - I read a few of your articles about Partiko, and although I'm not using it RIGHT NOW, I have started using it on my phone to browse through people posts and like and comment, particularly when I'm away from the computer. (I'm not very good at phones, so I still prefer to write with a keyboard---TECHNICALLY, I still like to write with ink in a no-lined notebook...but I digress.) Partiko is a solid app, and I'm pleased to learn that the creators are decent folks!

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5 votes

stellabelle (75) · 6 years ago

This is an awesome response and worthy of an entire post! Thank you 🙏

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2 votes

littleboy (72) · 6 years ago

1 sheep 2 sheep 3 sheep ...

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3 votes

stellabelle (75) · 6 years ago

Sheep will lead the way to adoption

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littleboy (72) · 6 years ago

General people are always looking for shepherds aka centralized companies to manage their funds. Crypto needs a lot of ethical shepherds who aren't going to scam people and bring them to crypto (e.g Binance, Coinbase etc). As for the current state of Steem:

3 votes

nonameslefttouse (74) · 6 years ago

I want to say something, but I won't, because it's just going to turn into me bitching about how those who don't give a shit and that behavior is evident even all over the trending page here. People willing to stomp on another's work just so they can extract a few votes out of naive sheep who kiss their asses with the hopes of getting a vote for themselves. Fucking gong show... oops, sorry. I've said too much and now people will hate me more.

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2 votes

masterthematrix (60) · 6 years ago

Why should new technology like Blockchain help humans to overcome any of our psychological and emotional problems like greed? Every human for himself has to deal with his attitude and perspective of life. For me, the Blockchain technology only opens the door to more possibilities in life. And since do many people are already working and developing this applications we will see the success in the nesr future.
Don't make yourself crazy with prices thats the same psycho trap like in the hype phase...keep buying cheap Steem!
In that state that we humans are the powers of the worl lays in the hands of the rich and wealthy. And the

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2 votes

indigoocean (67) · 6 years ago

I resonate strongly with this! This whole BCH thing recently really pissed me off. And XRP fandom, that cares not a whit about whether it’s genuine crypto or not, just wanting the money, is just as annoying. I truly hope that actual crypto is what comes out on top over the next few years, and with it the democratic money we’d hoped for.

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stellabelle (75) · 6 years ago

Humans don’t have a good track record. We have to step up before the psychopaths take over again.

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lucylin (67) · 6 years ago

...to assume that they ever left , would be a very dangerous assumption..

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stellabelle (75) · 6 years ago

And btw I’m not just talking about BCH

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ladyrebecca (65) · 6 years ago

If we are lucky someone will develop the app even sheep can understand. I would like to say it wouldn't be much of a surprise to me - I'm old enough to have dealt with many disappointments, but I was kinda hoping my kids would have a better future... we'll see!

When I wrote my first book, not many people in my life thought it was important. My relatives never bothered to read it. It didn’t matter to them.

My daughter recently published her first book and as you say nobody gave a fuck!

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masterwriter (58) · 6 years ago

Hello dear @stellabelle :)

I commend you for taking time to write this article . You did a great job. Honestly the market is just frustrating i must say. I have been depressed lately because of the low market in crypto generally.

But reading your post has rekindled my hope.

Thank you!

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stellabelle (75) · 6 years ago

I’m glad it did something positive .

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jacobtothe (70) · 6 years ago

There was a bubble. Now we are dealing with the fallout. HODL!

paulo380 (58) · 6 years ago

This isn't fallout... This is pure manipulation, It clearly written all over the market

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jacobtothe (70) · 6 years ago

Always look at the bubble, not the crash. I thought BTC had peaked way back at $2500. We may drop there, or return to a $5000 equilibrium, or hit new highs. Only time will tell. But these are the growing pains of a new technology that hasn't hit the mainstream yet.Crypto is still in its version of the 90s tech boom with rampant speculation and many dead ends. It will take time.

The BCH drama is just a part of that.

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samueldouglas (54) · 6 years ago

crypto will just turn into a millionaire’s playground and the dreams of bringing financial freedom to the masses, and breaking down the walls of a broken system will remain just a ridiculous fantasy

I’m pretty sure crypto has primarily been this way for a while now. While the development of projects/tools/those mysterious killer apps rely on investment from those who benefit from the status quo, nothing will change.

We could move beyond the millionaires’ playground, but few millionaires (or billionaires) will fund anything going in this direction. Relying on this is like waiting for the government to tell you how to overthrow it - they might make a mistake, but would never deliberately do such a thing.

(On a related note, when cooperating with governments, even grossly unjust regimes, is more profitable than resistance, you can largely forget about help from the aforementioned millionaires in that regard.)

jacobtothe (70) · 6 years ago (edited)

Every new technology started as a millionaire's playground. Radio, TV, automobiles, computers, VCRs, the internet... It is the risk-takers with the wealth to spare who lay the foundations for progress. Sometimes they win big, sometimes they lose everything. Crypto has turned this around somewhat when new coins can be mined independently, or in the case of STEEM, earned by adopting the platform early and creating quality content.

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enjoycompany (57) · 6 years ago

So nice to make your acquaintance @stellabelle, I am also very new on #Steemit, joined in July but only just started a couple of weeks back. I also share many of your opinions about #crypto and feel that this dive in the market will bring fresh interest in #crypto. All the wonderful people who have put so much of their lives into this amazing platform, investing, writing, making videos, developing partnerships, friendships and technology are the backbone of what we can now be part of. I am still as excited as I was a few weeks ago and I just bought my first #crypto in order to power up and have more freedom to post.
I hope we can be friends, I’ll spend some time reading your other posts enjoying your art.

stellabelle (75) · 6 years ago

Such a nice comment! I’m following you now

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enjoycompany (57) · 6 years ago

Thank you, appreciate new followers and I promise to do more posting from now on.(since I did a couple of small power ups) still reading...

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ljung (36) · 6 years ago

What is wrong with XRP?

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littleboy (72) · 6 years ago (edited)

It is centralized and has a single point of failure. And it will dump to zero if the company wallets get hacked.

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3 votes

https://www.coindesk.com/ripple-medieval-banking-digital-twist

ljung (36) · 6 years ago (edited)

You are not supposed to hold more than a few cents worth of XRPs. They are merely stamps used to pay for each transaction in the hawala network. The hawala network is distributed. That is even better than decentralized networks. People using Ripple doesn’t care about XRPs. It is not the point of the system.

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jamerussell (58) · 6 years ago

Pretty potent writing, @stellabelle; thank you for the insight and the opinion (this is not financial advice)!!!

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uwelang (74) · 6 years ago

I agree in most points - egos and tribalism is destroying the entire movement at the moment. Thanks for sharing your thoughts which are well thought as usual and one can feel you indeed take care of others.

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iqbaladan (65) · 6 years ago

You just have not taken the time to properly value that stuff inside yourself, and you don’t have the tools to figure out what steps to take next.

Amen to that.

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steem-ua (64) · 6 years ago

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clumsysilverdad (64) · 6 years ago

great post ... STEEM doesn't have to be all things to all people. there are nearly 8 billion people in the world. if we can be meaningful to a few 10 million of them or so, we will be a player in blockchain space, no doubts at all. we just have to hold together, if so, good things will come imho

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