I have been diligently researching crypto for the past year nonstop. In the beginning, this is how I found Steemit. I had no idea Steemit.com was even linked to a cryptocurrency until I had been here five or ten times reading posts about crypto here.

FUD sells.

I have never seen Steem in the crypto-news circuit until now. I vaguely remember Joe Rogan briefly mentioning Steem in one of his podcasts. There was another article specifically about crypto social media that Steem get's mentioned. That's about it.

@ned lays off 70% of Steemit Inc and the news goes ballistic? I'm seeing it everywhere. It's embarrassing how lopsided crypto reporting is. There are plenty of cool projects and technicalities on this blockchain that have never been reported on. I guess it's easier to look at a number on a graph than it is to do actual research on the cryptosphere.

Reoccurring Theme

The lack of information in this space is disturbing. You can't find good information on blockchains on the official page because they are too busy bullshitting you. Was there a pre-mine? How decentralized is the currency? How decentralized is network validation? How does governance and development operate? How many coins does the dev team hold?

Half of the time I research a new coin it takes me an hour just to realize if it's an ERC-20 token or not. Meanwhile, every other article in the news-circuit is about price action. "Crypto adds/loses 30 billion overnight!" Yeah, no shit. Business as usual. Got anything useful to say?

I can understand this mentality in other fields, but the cryptosphere is so complex and has so much going on that there are a near infinite number of topics to choose from. There's really no excuse to focus on the whims of the markets as development spirals. Plain and simple: this situation is a classic example of the exploitation of emotions we experience on a daily basis, especially when money is involved.

"I told you so." Mentality

Now is the time that all the bears come out of the woodwork. Okay! Wow! You called it! So now you're a millionaire because you shorted the market, right? Actions speak louder than words. People have the audacity to make a zero risk statement and then cry, "I told you so," when their coin-flip prediction turns out to be accurate?

Let's not forget that the establishment is actively anti-crypto. They automatically have to be because crypto is anti-establishment. The establishment can't embrace crypto until they find a way to reign it in and control it, or at least profit off of it massively. Central banks will never cease to gasp for air as they proclaim that crypto isn't money. Yeah we get it, because if crypto was money you'd be totally useless and powerless.

Steemit is a Crutch.

The purpose of Steemit Inc. is a centralized necessary evil to get the ball rolling. We'll never get anywhere if we don't eventually come up with decentralized governance solutions that incentivize the community at large. Get paid to entertain. Get paid to inform. Get paid to develop. Get paid to _____. This is what we want, and if we're being honest with ourselves we need to admit that a centralized corporation is probably the last place we are going to find the solutions to fair decentralized distribution.

What is 70%?

Everyone has been focused on that number. 70%. How many is 70%? We kept most/all of our development team? Nice. We had to get rid of marketing? Oh, you mean that marketing strategy where we claim anyone can get rich quick because the best content is what gets upvoted to the top? Rats, that was working so well for us. You're going to be forced to dump coins on a deflated market for a huge loss? Now all the diehard supporters can buy in for dirt cheap?

From a lot of perspectives, this whole situation looks like a blessing in disguise. The only factor that determines whether this is a good thing or not is if Steem implodes and ceases to be. If we are around in five years, I can guarantee that the value of a coin will be far greater than $1.

In Summer 2016 Steem spiked at $4.50 and crashed to 8 cents. Using this same metric we shouldn't be surprised if we crash to 15 cents after spiking at $8.50. Let's consider ourselves lucky if 30 cents is rock bottom, shall we? These numbers are par for the course across all blockchains. Steem is not being targeted for extermination.

In all honesty, I can't see the Steem blockchain imploding that easily. Sure, we could go down to a penny a coin, but what would it take for this community to abandon ship? There'd probably have to be a superior alternative released onto the market, and in that case I'd still call it a win because we'd all get to continue on getting paid to ____.

How long can the Steem blockchain stay relevant without any development? I'd say we are still years ahead of competing projects from a developmental perspective. We could literally go more than a year without any kind of upgrade or fork and still be fine. Think about where this blockchain would be if we reverted to the code we were using a year ago. Some people actually want that to happen! LOL.

Apps can still be developed for the blockchain without upgrades to the blockchain itself. Even if Steemit Inc goes under, development will not stop. There are plenty of people here, including myself, willing to work for 'free' as an investment. We won't get paid unless the apps we make are useful. The chance that we go bankrupt? 0%.

Sure SMTs are a nice idea. They allow a team to come together to monetize their project. However, truly decentralized solutions shouldn't need their own quarantined coin in an ideal environment. Again, SMTs are a crutch, just like Steemit Inc. is a crutch, along with ERC-20 tokens in general. The only thing stopping these projects from utilizing the main chain is a lack of decentralized governance. Greed, lack of innovation/utility, and scaling issues all come into play as well. If we want to navigate this space successfully we have to completely rewire our brains away from the never ending competitive landscape we've been brought up in.

Everyone has tunnel vision. Cryptocurrency is volatile. No secret there. These coins aren't going to be dirt cheap forever. I'm not saying you should buy. I'm saying we should zoom out and try to look at this space without the emotional lens tied to fiat value. All I see is yet another wave in a series of waves. Let's go surfing. Are you afraid to wipe out? Living life in fear isn't much of a life.

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