To 'value' anything in the world is an interesting and fascinating phenomenon that continues to capture a global following which has led in my humble opinion to greater spread of wealth and prosperity in the world. Value is also 'relative', if we look at any Stock, Forex or any Security market there is a constant ebb and flow base on what someone else is willing to pay. Some have taken the value chain further, looking at it from a fundamental or technical perspective or both. The United States of America (USA), is seen as one of the most powerful and wealthy country in the world with the US dollar (USD) given the status as the global reserve currency. This status is a rare privilege as everything in the world is valued/ traded in US dollars ensuring there is always a constant demand for it. Others may point to the fact that USA is the most indebted country in the world that is caught in a debt spiral it may never get out of. Nonetheless, US debt is still valued as one of the safest investments in the world. The point of this opening paragraph is to highlight valuing anything is tricky and difficult, its often what someone is willing to pay in a given moment. Lets dive into the meat of our discussion...

How do we value Steem and what we think it should be worth?

The answer to that question is tricky but at the same time quite simple. Steem value is what a buyer is willing to pay for it in the given time.While this may not be the best metric its really that simple and it is the same for every other cryptocurrency, its what the buyer is willing to pay for it. Bitcoin now enjoys 9+ years of solid history, a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that has captured the imagination of millions and has the network effect long for by the 2000+ projects listed on CoinMarketCap. Steem now has 3 years of solid history, its objectives are quite different from that of Bitcoin, its a social blockchain aiming to flip the current social media model by putting value of content in the hands of the creators rather than the hands of a few. Its an ambitious project, one that interest me. Time has gone by quickly, within four months it would make it two years for me on the platform. During that time I have seen the evolution of the blockchain from hardforks to hardforks, some very positive and others not getting off as plan. Overall I give it B+ for developments and C+ on growth.

Thoughts on the platform and the Blockchain...

The Steem platform itself has gone through some changes most have been good but there is always areas for improvements, if you did not yet see the new https://steem.com/, take a look, from what it was before to what it is now is that kind of face-lift the steemit.com needs. Pleasing on the eyes and just sexcy. The blockchain itself compared to whats around is among the very best--> its scalable, fast and free. I experience very little downtime using the platform, interacting with the Steem blockchain using the various Steem apps is easy and very user friendly, something you won't find with other blockchains, there is always a technical hurdle with others. Despite all of the great things going for Steemit and the Steem blockchain it still has challenges, one of which is maintaining user base. From what I have seen, the buzz of user base and interaction has some correlation to Steem price. I am lucky enough to experience three bull phase of Steem and the subsequent winters. What new Steemians should know, becoming successful on Steem takes time. Buying your way in is probably the easiest way, I say if you want to seriously make a living from Steem you need to have at least 5k to 10K in Steem power and build a robust and supportive network. The other way is creating content, and that one can be difficult especially if you aren't part of a community. The best content doesn't necessarily get rewarded and its one of the areas I have seen Steemit try to address. There isn't a magic point to solve this problem and this has galvanize some interesting debates, I lean towards making making curation more attractive. If you are finding it difficult to get by on the platform reach out to fellow Steemians, join a community, Steem is about networking and leveraging.

Token metrics...

For me Steem works, the blockchain works quite well, its performance is among the very best. There has been several debates on reward pool and linear curve vs super-linear curve, etc, etc. Two hardforks 18 and 19 really brought out the enthusiasm on the platform, apart from the Steem price, folks are quite interested in what the reward pool is doing, what Steemians perceive as positive changes usually leads to uptick in prices. You can follow the dates of these hardforks and subsequent prices here https://github.com/steemit/steem/releases?after=v0.19.0. You can go through the catalog and look at the performance of Steem with the changes, it paints an interesting narrative. One of my reasons for B+ and C+ rating of the platform hasn't to do with whether the blockchain is capable but the metrics behind it. Essentially we are miners just like the Bitmain's of Bitcoin. One of the challenges Steem face, Steemians don't get this, its a supply vs demand at play. Compared to Bitcoin, Steem is inflationary with a significant premine portion that would continue to impact the price. As miners we aren't doing a good job, we have witnesses, content creators and premine Steem as contributors on the supply side.

Lets break down this dilemma...

Steem frustration or better put some of the wars that break out from time to time as folks express their frustration is really driven by low price. Steem problem is really the other side of the equation, the demand side vs the supply side. The demand hasn't catch up to the supply and even with a great concept like this, it haven't translated with traders willing to take risk. Much of this data is reflected once you look at the chart and data coming from CoinMarketCap. Lots of Steemian buy into the long-term investor mentality and quality content would drive up prices but forget given the market we are in, traders/ speculators are as vital as content creators. In fact the larger the platform user base grows, the greater the trading volume needed if we all are to be winners and satisfied. Base on the performance of the Steem blockchain and size of the community, Steem should easily crack into the TOP10 on CoinMarketCap. Steem like Bitcoin, is one of the few blockchain with a global and identifiable presence. Within cryptocurrency that is very rare, lots of cryptocurrency community are fill with a bunch of anonymous people, you can't tell bots from real people. This demand problem translates into quite a few people dropping off the platform in frustration. It is one of the reasons for my C+ growth rating, I haven't seen this supply problem address. We continue to see thousands join and hundreds leave as folks conclude the struggle isn't worth it.

Token Metrics, metrics....

The value of Steem if you put it in the category of other social platform is really undervalued. Given the trend of censorship, there is increasing need for decentralized platform where liberty, freedom of expression and value is in the hands of content creators rather than the hands of a few. The challenge is selling this concept to people and getting them to buy into it. The concept behind Steem sells itself but given the FUD and the chart and at times the sentiments on the platform it has done some damage. Even when I share the idea of the Steem in Telegram or discord with traders, they point at the chart, the trend and increasing supply. Steem needs to flip the script and change the narrative, one of the ways of doing this is exploring market makers opportunity. While we often delegate Steem power on the platform to various causes, I believe using some Steem stake towards a market marker should be discuss. Another common trend within cryptocurrency market is "coin burn". This is used primarily to curb supply, there are mix views but the strength of Binance Coin(BNB) during Bitcoin dumps shows that this method helps. Another method of curbing the Steem supply is the use of SBD. The dynamics of SBD and influence on Steem token is poorly appreciated. Probably SBD derived from delegation can be used to buy Steem on internal market that can be subsequently burn through null account. There needs to be a loop that reacts to market sentiment and keep Steem attractive to traders.

There are other areas I like to discuss but I believe this is enough for one blog, I hope this blog can stir some discussion in Steemfest. The Steem blockchains works well, the reward curve works great and overall a face-lift on the Steemit platform can help. My view of Steem is the problem is perceived base on frustration of the demand side of the equation. The value proposition of Steem to investors is the increasing censorship social media face and the lack of benefits content creators face when the content is fully monetized and privatized without any financial gain.

Steem On