Wow... that's the best thing I've read in several months!
Where we stand right now is not that dissimilar from the "dot-com crash" of 2000-2001. It was a massive wake-up call for all those who thought they could become instant millionaires simply by having the word "Internet" in their IPO prospectus. Wind forward 18 years and substitute ICO for IPO and "blockchain" for "Internet"... and does it look familiar?
Was the Internet just a passing fad?
Will blockchain technology just be a passing fad?
I take some measure of comfort in knowing that while thousands of "dot com millionaires" perished and got handed their shirt on a plate, those who started worthy things like eBay, Amazon, Yahoo and so on... they pretty much came out smelling like roses. They DID get their Lambos. Not by being clever opportunists, but by having the best, most innovative ideas designed to change the way we do things.
You're exactly right. We don't NEED the 3,287th token that will "create smart contracts to categorize your nose hair." Who the fuck cares? "Yeah, but we're using BLOCKCHAIN technology!" Again, who the fuck cares?
I see this as a crucial part of the growth and maturation of a concept. This is the time when all the "gamblers" and "opportunists" throw in the towel and leave... and the true "value investors" start sorting through the rubble and buying into the real and worthy projects with intent to simply hold those assets with the expectation of tripling their money... not by next week, but by 2021. Because that is typically what investing truly is.
So now we get to ask ourselves... "Is the Steem blockchain a cool and valid device people think will definitely 'become something,' independently of its market valuation?"
A lot of people — once they leave their egos and instant-riches expectations at the door — will probably say "yes."
Great article!
LOL! 🙌
...
Yes.
I was thinking along the same lines last night... yeah, there were some people who invested in Google, Amazon, and the big internet companies right at the beginning - comparatively to where we may be at now with blockchain. But were those the only opportunities? FUCK NO. That was just the start.
There were probably millions of opportunities that got created afterwards with different application, niches, sites, communities, etc, etc. Even if we were to lose everything we invested right now, there's still such a huge amount of opportunities ahead. Even here, alot of us are enthusiastic about Steemit because it's the first and pretty much only of its kind - though I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up with a similar fate as MySpace, as there's bound to be many other platforms that evolve to serve in different ways and open up all kinds of new opportunities for people to show up, connect, collaborate, and get compensated, in ways neither of us can foresee at the moment...