Steem is following an interesting path. What we are seeing is not uncommon in the world of business. In fact, most entrepreneurs who start companies are familiar with the process.
At this point in time, very few people are making a living off Steem. It would seem, at the moment, it is only a small handful, probably counted on one hand.
This is quite common with newer ventures. Anyone who started a business understands that it takes time to generate cash flow. We are seeing something like that taking place here.
Even though the blockchain distributes money, the value, as compared to fiat, is way down. This means the payouts, in USD or EUR terms is not that great. Since we still operate in a fiat based world, people, for the most part, cannot sustain themselves on this.
Of course, there is a flip side to this. Usually, those who are involved early, are able to amass wealth through being involved in the venture. Businesses might not generate a great deal of cash flow early but, when they do attain success, the owners tend to do very well.
Thus, we are looking at a very interesting situation.
Source
The early adopters of Steem will likely end up amassing significant wealth while not being able to create an income. Those who appear later will not have the same opportunities at wealth yet will see the ability to earn an income much easier.
It is an interesting situation when you think about it. Anyone who started a business most likely knows what it is like to go, at times, without a paycheck. The owner is always the last one to get paid in that situation. It is not uncommon for a family to depend upon another income while the business is getting going.
At some point, I believe, the Steem platform will provide incomes to millions of people. Before it arrives at that point, it will create a bunch of millionaires. As the ecosystem grows, those holding stake in the different projects on here will see their values increase. We are only one bull market away from the situation being completely different from a financial perspective.
What is likely to happen is that we will see the same thing filer throughout to everything on the platform. Please to not mistake that to mean that everything on Steem will have value. What I mean is that the increase in value will spread to all corners, impacting those projects that gain a following and are making progress.
For the time being, this is the projects that have a Steem-Engine token. Over the next few months, we will likely see this spreading to those projects that adopt SMTs. They will also will follow the same path.
With those tokens, the early adopters will not generate income but will, if the tribe/community is successful, will amass wealth. Only after an increase in the token value, as the entire project gains value, will those people start to generate income.
Right now there are millions (or tens of millions) of tokens being distributed daily throughout the entire Steem ecosystem. We know that many of these have little to no value at the moment. Down the road, that will probably hold true for many of them. However, there will be some that break the trend and appreciate greatly in value. Couple this with the holdings in STEEM and we could see many people who are in terrific position.
Development is taking place. There are more projects arriving that are going to help people get rewarded. I watched a video the other day about 3Speak and some of the features they are looking at implementing. That is going to provide a nice stream of payments to people once all those features go live.
This is the reason why I believe Steem requires the long-term view. It is not an overnight, get rich quick scheme. Unfortunately, that is how it was promoted in the early days with some people making videos of how they earned thousands in their first few posts.
Instead, Steem is a daily grind forward. This is true for content creators and developers. Each day, we move the ball a bit further down the field. That means getting a few more tokens in our wallet. There are many compounding factors involved in the Steem ecosystem and utilizing them helps to amass stake.
2019 saw the emergence of DeFi within the cryptocurrency world. What is interesting is a lot of what was developers already existed on Steem. Hence, those who have any Steem Power are in a position to keep growing it at a compounding rate. The missing ingredient is, obviously, the value in fiat since that is how all of us are stuck operating within.
At some point that will change. When it does, the number of people who are able to earn an income will increase dramatically. Before that happens, however, those who are involved now, will see their holdings increase significantly (in fiat terms). This will drive the wealth held on Steem to incredible levels.
Like most start ups, it is all part of the process. The early days tend to be the toughest. With all the development taking place, it is exciting to see us moving forward.
If you found this article informative, please give an upvote and resteem.
Posted via Steemleo