My Cinderella Story

I had trouble sleeping last night. I went to bed with that nervous energy. It had been a while since I had been kept up by sheer excitement about Steemit. After tossing and turning for a few hours, I thought to myself that 14 cents just might be an ultimate low for Steem and I didn't want to pass on it. I turned to my Bitcoin funds on Bittrex and transferred a 1000 USD worth to my Steem power via @blocktrades. First thing in the morning @steemitboard drops one of its automated comment, I just became a dolphin. This is a transformation that could have never occurred if Steem was worth a dollar or more. I now have about 7 times more SP than yesterday.

The Risk

Bitcoin Dominance is the rule, not the exception. The better financial decision would have been to leave it on the exchange or better yet, to transfer it to a Ledger wallet. During the Altcoin rally of 2017, Bitcoin wasn't doing so bad at all and it just so happens that in the current bear market, Bitcoin is not doing so bad either. This is what I call Altcoin erosion.

The big wigs with the big money are after the store of value, not the life changing technology. They can manipulate the market to make the small investor feel less confident about blockchain projects that clearly have strong use cases like Steem. They are counting on the small investor's FOMO to create the the demise of a project or to keep it cheap enough that they can buy most shares (in this case Steem) and control it as much as possible.

Steem was designed to make this second option very hard because even though it is in appearance vulnerable at this low price, buying all the Steem on the open market would hardly be enough to control it. However, it could be a great opportunity to manipulate the market down the road by mass selling at any given time, thus jeopardizing public trust in it's value. This is the kind of psychological warfare we are exposing ourselves to by opting for a censorship resistant platform but it seems like so far, we are still flying under the big wig's radar. The attacks on Steem, are the same attacks (market manipulation) other Altcoins (with strong use cases) are facing indiscriminately*. They are using the fool me once principle against the small investor by pulling money from projects they have every intention of returning to. The fact that we love our SP and actually have an emotional attachment to it is but one of the reasons why Steem is a wildcard that refuses to have the rug swept from under its feet. After manipulating the Steem on the open market for long enough, you hit the user's incentive to stake their coin at the expense of liquidity. Although I believe we could be close to a low point, it may take some time before we can rise again and I can see Bitcoin gaining value while my investment is here.

The Unknown

Investors both big and small are taking a risk with crypto and that really evens out the playing field. Sure whales can manipulate crypto markets and therefore write large chunks of our financial news cycle but their Machiavellian plans can backfire in ways that are impossible on their Federal Reserve turf. Scaring investors with regulation is their last resort, if that doesn't work, there is no plan C.

The Reward

If I have to choose between money and power, I choose power. The timing seems right to help better shape the Steemosphere. I have been with Steem since its humble (and not so humble) beginnings and I have witnessed such an evolution happen right before my eyes. Being a non-dev, I have at times felt like I couldn't sit at the cool kid's table but I have also been empowered to define my kind of cool.

I once had a dream to build myself up to dolphinhood by the merits of my payouts while investing a minimal amount of fiat. That ship has sailed. However, I have a bigger dream to have a voice, to make friends, to improve in multiple artistic fields and with the written word. I have a dream which I don't have to wait for because it's unfolding before my eyes. A dream to spend my earnings on a geeky card game so I can optimize my strategy, a dream to laugh and cry and to just be me as I find not just one tribe but a few. Win or loose, it'a about the rich tapestry of our community and to be able to give the money meaning. Money sitting somewhere making me richer is good, make no mistake, I'm into that too but I bought 7000 Steem because Steem has helped build my self-confidence and I don't see why it would stop now.

On Steem you can create any niche with the right amount of perseverance, you don't have to look for Steemians, they will organically come to you.

Keep in mind that this is in no way financial advice, I may speak in definitive terms when in fact my understanding of crypto is quite limited. I just make up for my lack of knowledge with passion. I have invested money that I would be OK with loosing, please do the same.

_* Big investors love a resource like sand which they can steal in international waters with upfront capital (boats, fuel) that are exclusive in that small investors can't participate. They pat themselves on the back when told that cement is the no.2 CO2 polluter and care not for the erosion of our beaches. With stolen sand, they enlarge the city-state of Singapore which then claims to be all about clean energy.