Throughout the history of tech; something has come along which is a great idea only to be perfected and surpassed by something else. This is especially true if that something else is more user-friendly and has more mass appeal.
Ethereum is a fantastic idea and that's the reason it shot to $400. Unlike many other altcoins it actually had a real purpose and wasn't just a store of wealth or a copy of something else. It got people exited. I still believe Ethereum will get back to $400 at some point; even if through just speculation alone but I'm not half as exited about it as I am with EOS.
EOS makes a lot more sense to me. It takes the process of creating apps on a blockchain and simplifies it so even casual coders can figure it out; without the need for smart contracts. Dan Larimer has a proven track-record of creating useful coins with ideas attached to them in Bitshares and Steem, whereas some of the things created on the Ethereum network have ranged from the fraudulent to the farcical. A joke token called Useless Ethereum Token getting $62,3oo USD is not a good look;nor does it inspire confidence. Of course EOS itself is proof that Ethereum is useful and it's not all bad, but this has been damaging.
Joke tokens
Of course these stupid contracts aren't Vitalik's fault and the same thing could easily happen to EOS, but I would like to propose that this is a result of Ethereum's complexity. When it's extremely difficult to create something meaningful;it's a lot more-likely people will scam and joke around. When the barrier for entry is lower;people with great ideas may be a lot more motivated to implement them.
So why am I using Steem bucks?
It's essentially free money. Though I will probably be getting only $30-60 SBD a month it's money from doing something I would be doing elsewhere for free. You can't buy much with that, but if you buy tokens at $1.70 that could be worth hundreds in a couple of years from now it suddenly becomes a lot more worthwhile. If it all goes tits-up and EOS is a flop, then I've only lost time and that time was spent doing something entertaining. I'm not worried about the daily price or if the tokens are over-priced because I see it as a very long-term investment.
The way I'm buying is transferring to Bittrex, buying a stable currency with a low withdrawal fee and then moving it to Bitfinex to buy EOS. I plan on doing this for the foreseeable future. If someone has a better/cheaper way let me know...
As always I'm only writing about what I'm doing. This post is not advice on where to put your own money, do your own research.
Good move, always need a plan b
sometimes reality is the parody of itself
ROFL!!!
Good choice. I thought of doing the same. Maybe take 10-15% of the total SBD I earn in a month and buy EOS and repeat each month? Haven't decided yet. Do you have a similar strategy like this in mind?
I'm somewhat glad I had the chance to buy some EOS on the second day when it started selling. I used earnings from Steemit. Got them for 85 cents each. The first 5 days were probably the best time to buy in terms of price. I doubt it will ever go that low. I hope it will though. I would like to buy some more at that level again. :)
It will be fun to see how many people that have invested interest in Ethereum will try and 'attack' EOS with anything and everything. :)
PS: I used https://blocktrades.us/ to convert SBD to ETH. Got ETH in my ETH wallet in just a few minutes. After that I used EOS's website (https://eos.io/instructions) to buy the tokens. I don't know if this is cheaper than your method.
Yeah there will be bickering like Xbox/Playstation or Mac/Windows type arguments. I have high hopes for both but if it was a contest I'd bet on EOS being ahead years from now.
I'm just going to put all SBD I earn in. Because I have other ways of earning altcoins so no need to diversify. If Steemit was my only method of earning cryptos though I would be splitting it with other alt buying.
I don't think your method is cheaper, I calculated fees on Blocktrades a while back and they were around 5% if I recall. There's no fee getting money into Bittrex, but to transfer onto Bitfinex will be charged, I haven't worked out the percentage accurately on my transfers but it was a lot less than 5%, at least with XRP. But you also have to take into account trade fees. I would guess it's still cheaper.
Thanks for letting me know. I should look into your method.
Unrelated to your answer, it's nice to use something that @dan created to buy into something that @dan will create. A win/win kinda situation. :)
Do a typical trade for equal amounts using both methods at the same time and see how much EOS you end up with, that's what I do sometimes when I want to know quickly if one method is cheaper. Also the Bittrex withdrawal fee is a flat fee whereas Blocktrades is (or was at least when I calculated it) based on a percentage, so Bittrex would definitely be cheaper over larger amounts.
But your way has the benefit of being through your own wallet so there's also that to consider.
As a "casual dev" myself, I'd love to see the EOS SDK and how dev-friendly it actually is. Creating an Ether smart contract is remarkably easy, it would be interesting to see how EOS attacks it.
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