Do Not Underestimate STEEM
There has never been an opportunity in the blogging space like we have with the Steem blockchain. Over the past fifteen years of blogging I have never seen a community so willing to help hardworking writers as I have in the past seven months on Steemit. Then there is the monetary compensation, a real asset we are able to trade for goods and services.
It's Buys Real World Items
Recently I purchased a monitor and keyboard thanks to the STEEM earned for these blog posts. It was not the easiest process but it was possible to buy physical goods without the need to cash out into fiat. The process is as follows:
- Move STEEM or SBD to Bittrex or your exchange of choice.
- Convert to Bitcoin Cash.
- Send the Bitcoin Cash to purse.io's built in Shapshift exchange.
- Purchase any item on Amazon thought purse.io.
- Wait for the goods to be delivered.
The reason I chose to convert to Bitcoin Cash and then convert again to Bitcoin on the Purse website is because the amount of value I needed would not have been worth the fee that Bittrex charges to withdraw Bitcoin. On days that Shapeshift allows for STEEM conversion it makes it much simpler.
Why Tell Of This Purchase
I wanted to tell everyone this because Steem is so unique and so far ahead of any other blockchain. Sometimes we can take what we have for granted and it takes a slight kick in the rear to get back in the correct mind-set. Buying that keyboard and monitor did that for me, even though it was a slight hassle.
We all see the payout amounts on our posts and may think it's cool that we are earning some level of income by blogging. However, it does not matter how much STEEM we earn if we are unable to trade it for goods and services. There are many online currencies that are not cryptographic in nature.
In games, we earn 'money' to buy more in game stuff but it is not common to have the ability to sell and get a new keyboard. We could even say that 'internet points', like we see on reddit upvotes or Instagram likes, are a currency of popularity. But those popularity points can not be traded for a new monitor in the same way we can with STEEM.
This is why my focus on Tuesdays and Thursdays is helping the creators of Steemit. Even if it is just a post like this aimed to give a little motivation so we can put in the work needed to succeed. Steem is real and we are still at the ground floor. As long as the blockchain keeps moving along, and we create, it will never die.
Why I am Bullish on STEEM in 2018
You may know about and watched the video by @jerrybanfield where he talks about why he thinks STEEM will be the number one altcoin of 2018. He makes a lot of great points, many of which I've had in my mind for the past month or so. The more I learn abou Steem the more excited I get. I have not been this excited about a cryptocurrency since I studied Bitcoin for three months back in 2015.
Earning For Creating
As an online creator for over about fifteen years I know tho struggle of working hard on one's content only to see no return. It was not until I chose to focus on the Steemit community that I saw any real return for my time and effort.
The fact that we are able to earn a digital coin that has the ability to rise in value over time is huge. Blogging is no longer a paycheck to paycheck kind of hustle. It's now an investment into our future and our family's future. It's best we do not take this opportunity for granted.
Undervalued Blockchain
This is what got me the most fired up over the past month. Over on blocktivity.info they list the top cryptocurrency not by market cap but by the number of transactions per day. Guess what is at the top of the list, our beloved STEEM! Not only is it handling the most transactions per second but STEEM is not even close to slowing down. That is what the CUI column is displaying. Take a look at Ethereum. It's maxed out and still only in second place. The best indicator of an undervalued coin in my opinion is shown in the columnd labeled 'AVI'.
This index takes the Bitcoin value (market cap) and the number of transactions (Tx) per day and makes it an index set to "1". Then, it varies with the other blockchain's data. The index grows when the blockchain is very active and its market cap is low.
That is how blocktivity calculates the AVI but check this out:
A blockchain with the same amount of Tx as Bitcoin but with only half of its market cap would have an AVI of 2. From the investor's point of view, it would be twice as valuable as Bitcoin because it would have the same level of activity with only half the market cap.
Did you catch that?! If a coin has the same number of trans actions as bitcoin but half the market cap it should be considered twice as valuable! Look at steem: as I write this the AVI is around 824. By Blocktivity's calculations it should be 824 times more valuable than Bitcoin!
What kind of insane number would that be in USD? At a $13,000 dollar Bitcoin that would pig STEEM at about $10,712,000. Astronomical and very unlikely but this goes to show how early we are in the history of STEEM. Even if someone joins a year or two from now they too will benefit.
My 2018 Steem Goal
So it is 2018 and my new found love for STEEM and the Steemit community is flurishing with a great gusto each and every day. My goal for this year is to power up to five thousand Steem Power by December 31st. By doing so I will be able to award better upvotes to all your wonderful comments. As well as all the blog posts, videos, live streams, and audio everyone creates with proper effort.
I hope you found this post motivational and possibly a swift kick in the butt. Don't underestimate Steem like the rest of the crpyto-world is currently. Take this opportunity as a blessing that you are here now or are reading this now and about to join. Steem has the ability to change more lives for the better than Bitcoin did and we get to witness all of this from the start.
Thanks For Reading!
If you have a blogging topic that you would like my fifteen-year experience on, let me know in the comment section!
Other Posts in the "Blog Coaching" Series:
Answers To Bid-Bot Questions You Need To Know
How To Use Steemit Bid Bots Effectively
4 Reasons To Avoid Steemit Drama
Using Journals To Improve Our Blog
How To Leverage Criticism To Improve Your Blog
This post has been resteemed from MSP3K courtesy of @jrswab from the Minnow Support Project ( @minnowsupport ).
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That’s a great goal! I will watch and learn how you do it, as I am inspired and learning but I don’t think I have all the plates spinning quite yet. Thanks so much for this informative post!
That is the right mindset to have!
This is one of the best posts I've read on Steemit today, and I totally agree - we're all learning from each other and helping each other grow. It helps if the reward pool is shared 🙂
@jrswab thanks for the post! What an invigorating creation. I'm so pumped to see what is to come from Steem. I only wish good things for Steemians and Steemians to come!
Keep Steeming brother!
Thank you for the kind words!
Hey @jrswab
Congrats on purchasing a keyboard from Steemit earning.
Steem is one of the most undervalued currency. I think bloggers are not earning enough on other platforms and other platforms are not paying what we all deserve. However there are very few legit writers who are really doing great job. You are one of them.
Thanks for inspiring all of us and happy Steeming.
Wow! It is an honor to hear that <3
I promise to continue to bring the most value I can in every post.
Happy to meet you and see you around Steemit!
Just followed you. I don't want to miss your blogs on blogging and technology.
FYI - My Steemit username is my blog name, just like you.
Perfect and thanks for the follow!
You are about to overtake me in total amount of Steem Power... the student becomes the teacher!!
I agree with everything in this post, as it's all true. Steem is still widely undervalued and underestimated and we're all lucky to have the opportunity to be here early. Hopefully other people will see stories like how you were able to buy a new keyboard and use that as inspiration.
Brother it is thanks to you that I am as far as I am with my goal. Thank you so much for everything you have done. <3
I hope so as well. The day I received the monitor and then the keyboard it really hit me. I am blogging and earning real value that can be used to buy real world items I need. Steem changed the game for me.
Dude good call on converting to Bitcoin Cash , I am also starting reap some rewards need to cash out soon as Jan has been taxing . I have also put steem into trading alts and will be looking to buy a ticket to New York with that in Feb. It is all starting to come together and its awesome
hahah I know right! No way would I pay both Bittrex's fee and the insane transaction fee on Bitcoin. I'd never get my keyboard if I did! Thanks for the comment mate.
So you got Steem/SBD > Bittrex > BTC > Bitcoin Cash > Then shapeshifter
Yes. Unless it is one of those days were Shapeshift accepts STEEM.
Still plenty of time for folks to jump on if they missed earlier boats. I know I missed many earlier windows and low points of entry for fiat purchases of steem, but we're still at the very beginning of all this.
Exactly, Steem has a ton of room to grow and gain public attention.
@jrswab great post and I completely agree that steem is going to have a great year! I didn't know that you could buy stuff with purse.io like that. I'm going to have to look in to it to see what else I could get with my crypto.
I'm thinking that I might buy a little more steem and power it up. Take advantage of this little dip we are having right now.
I am all about that power up game :D
As for Purse.io, if you can find it on Amazon you can buy it from Purse.io!
I am really excited about this. 2018 looks amazing. I have seen a good amount of posts talking about how good Steem will be in 2018...I can't wait to see. You mention an aspect of a game. Inside of Steemit it feels like a game with getting upvotes, comments and followers. Just by being yourself you are playing. With the option of trading for physical goods!
Great insight! This can be a little bit of a game the more we add strategy to our posts and comments but with a much better reward :D
I underestimated STEEM once. I won't do it again. Thanks to you and your motivational / explanation-based posts, I feel like I have a grasp on the whole ecosystem now!
~ Kevin
Great to hear! I underestimated it back when I first joined. If only I had put in the effort to learn about it back then. But we are still in an amaze time for this project.