Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the volatile nature of cryptocurrency, in general.
A large part of the world dismiss crypto completely as "too highly speculative" because of the wild fluctuations we see, and granted it is a very risky proposition for most people compared to other forms of investment. But it's also — at least to me —an exciting new frontier, and not just from an investment perspective.
The thing that occurred to me today is that Steemit actually stands in somewhat stark contrast to the rest of the Cryptosphere in that it requires a great deal of persistence, diligence, and patience to build a substantial presence here.
In this case, I'm not talking about those who already arrive here with scads of money and can just buy up hundreds of thousands of Steem tokens, I'm talking about the rest of us who arrive here with little more than a desire to be a content creator and excited about the fact that we can build stake in the very platform we're using by doing our best and being diligent.
This is not — and never has been — a "get rich quick scheme.'
In a sense, making a determined effort to publish at least three or four times a week for years and years is quite different from the idea that many have when it comes to thinking about crypto... which is you throw in $100 this week and maybe in three weeks from now you have $5,000. Wen Lambo?
Frankly, I've never viewed this proposition as such a thing, and liken those who do more to playing the lottery than to actually investing in crypto.
Granted, most of us arrive in crypto via the conventional investment route... and this is definitely a whole new set of rules!
My original interest in cryptocurrency had nothing to do with investing in high flying meme tokens, and everything to do with being fascinated by this idea of an alternative medium of exchange that not only could perhaps succeed in "banking the unbanked," but also could serve as a sort of global currency for everybody to be able to exchange goods and services with a form of payment that was accessible to everyone and not limited by borders, regulations by governments and fees by banks.
At least that's what I was thinking about when I first got into this whole thing some 10-11 years ago. Of course, that's not exactly how things turned out... much of the Cryptosphere ended up hijacked by good old fashioned Wall Street Greed.
I'm thinking more about these things at the moment because I'm coming up on my own 8th anniversary here on Steemit in just another month or so.
Eight years is actually among the longest times I have spent actively pursuing a single thing online in all the years I have had Internet access.
And when I say "all the years," know that I've been at this for a very long time — likely longer than some of the people reading this post have been alive! I set up my first e-mail account in the mid 1990s, and interestingly enough the "Denmarkguy" nickname has been my companion the entire time!
Anyway, I found myself wanting to share these words as we come to the end of another year, and — if you subscribe to the idea that altcoins such as Steem tend to go into rally mode every four years — I'm feeling hopeful that 2025 might be a really good year.
No, this is not investment advice! These are merely ramblings and observations from one of the OG's here.
Meanwhile, I'm glad to see that our Steem token is ticking a little bit higher again after its temporary set back when the US stock markets had such a bad run, for a couple of weeks. Whereas $0.25 is no great shakes, it at least means we're back close to where we closed out last year.
I haven't made any firm goals for 2025 yet, but this is a bit of a "preamble" to doing so...
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Holiday week!
How about you? Do you see Steemit as a work of patience and persistence in content creation? Or are you more of a trader/investor? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)
Created at 2024.12.24 00:26 PST
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