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What Goes UP, Must Come Down... and Other Cryptosphere Realities

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denmarkguy
75
2 years agoSteemit3 min read

Taking a little bit of a departure from my "usual" type of content here... to reflect on the way the world of cryptocurrencies — of which Steemit/Steem, of course, is part — is definitely not for the faint of heart.

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Not so long ago, we celebrated the fact that Bitcoin had reached a new all-time-high. And just last Sunday, we were celebrating that Steem was getting close to 80 cents... and might we still see $1.00 Steem before the end of the year?

And then Bitcoin suddenly has one of its strange "flash crashes," briefly making it all the way down to $42,000 and change before recovering a bit. And, as typically happens, our Steem token went down the tubes with it... at one point getting down to 45 cents! It has recovered a bit to 48 cents, as I write these words on this late Saturday night.

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Having been in the crypto world for a number of years, these wild undulations don't trouble me as much as they once did...but I do find myself wondering if this industry will ever reach something that resembles "mass adoption" as long as these wild swings keep happening.

Let's face it, most people are a lot more risk averse with their money than that!

What I also end up thinking about is the fact that such crazy swings also cast somewhat of a long shadow over the potential for actual crypto based commerce.

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Let's just say I want to sell something simple like T-shirts. If my T-shirt is 20 Steem and I consider that a fair price when Steem is $0.80 that's awesome... but a few days later, Steem is $0.50. Do I have to rush in and reprice all my T-shirts because they now must be priced at 32 Steem in order for me to still make a little bit on selling them?

That just seems ridiculously impractical... and it brings into question the whole idea of whether or not cryptocurrencies are really currencies or just fancy high-risk investments.

I'm not saying this as a criticism of the cryptosphere... just as something that surely must be talked about, as we go forward.

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I guess I'll just leave it at that, and leave it open for comments and feedback... and go back to my usual type of posting tomorrow. In the meantime, thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your weekend!

How about YOU? How do YOU feel about the recent volatility in the markets? Do you think these kinds of wild swings prevent more people from being interested in cryptos? What about crypto-based commerce? Do leave a comment — 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 A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20211205 00:18 PST
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