The moment I first heard of bitcoin, I brushed it off.
A lot of us did.
The reason we brushed it off is because we hadn't taken the time to understand it. Or perhaps we did take the time, and still didn't understand it. At any rate, I would guess that a large majority of people just didn't get Bitcoin on the first introduction.
So we waited to buy. And at the very same moments that we were writing it off as stupid internet money or something only used for buying drugs on the internet, others around the world were having their own "Aha!" moment. The moment where you realize bitcoin is valuable because it allows for important use cases that were never available before it was created.
Bitcoin gave us the ability to exchange value directly with each other without permission. Without anyone's consent. Anytime. For free (or very little). Anywhere. Instantly. You can use any possible permutation of Paypal, Western Union, cash app, Wire/ACH, money order, cash, gold or any other medium available to you that your heart desires and it wouldn’t be able to do everything that Bitcoin alone made simultaneously possible.
This new method of exchanging value isn’t going anywhere. It is a far too valuable addition to our increasingly connected society to not flourish. So when the air is full of FUD, you have to remember why you are into crypto in the first place. There has never been a time in human history where a newly created, superior technology did not eventually make its way into use - ultimately causing the world around it to adapt to its existence.
Why Steemit will grow
Steemit as a platform is a model example of the amazing possibilities that open up when individuals have sovereign, peer-to-peer money first made possible by Bitcoin.
We are all here because in some way we want to make money. We all are in some way trying to navigate this new digital age and generate income. There is no shame in that. We were drawn here because we heard steemit allows you to make money just by posting content. And that does seem to be quite true.
The reason this is possible is because the platform uniquely rewards participation and good content while at the same time fostering organic growth. Users have incentive to post good content, because good content is thought to be valuable to others. If its valuable to others, and you realize it first, you get rewarded for making that good content more visible. Incentive to use the platform as a whole grows as more people learn of it for the first time, and also as they compete for visibility and influence over the new value the platform receives from new users. Its a really interesting incentive system. There is still so much room for the platform to grow because billions of people have yet to even learn about it.