RE: Profiting from uncertainty: Learn and Earn
The thing about cryptos that always ends up giving me pause for thought is that we call them "currencies" and that's basically a form of "money." But we all treat them like investments and not like money... and then we step back and go "I wish cryptocurrencies would become more mainstream."
It's difficult for me to persuade myself to use BTC to buy a cup of coffee or a car, knowing that there's a good chance said BTC (or Steem) might be worth double, six months from now. So that means we live in a world where it may be "cool" that someone is selling their lawn mower for BTC/Steem... but nobody's actually gonna BUY it.
How does this relate to your post? Well, "doing what other people won't." Even within our microcosm of Steemit, we aren't seeing a rush to develop much of a Steem economy. Sure, there are little pockets here and there. But it's not much, as of yet.
Like you, I see this is much more than just a platform to make money. I want to see a day where it actually makes sense for me to slap a sticker on the front door of my gallery that reads Steem Accepted Here! But if I were to do so, now? I would get questions and perhaps a few more people who might try to make money blogging, but I doubt any actual purchasers...
I think that in time there will be a range of options and some currencies will be used like cash, others to hold. This is actually a potential benefit of tethering SBD to the US dollar as it makes it a relatively stable currency to spend without having to worry if it is going to go up a lot.
But you are right for now at least as people are looking to invest and hold more than spend but this may change as the market stabilize but I don't see that level of stabilisation happening in the near future. For now, it is a collect and hold economy for the most part.