While I'm bullish on Steem as a blockchain and platform in general, I sometimes become doubtful of the value of the STEEM currency. When people ask me why they should buy STEEM, the only non-speculative answer I can think of is to get Steem power so you can upvote you own posts, which I am not sure is a sustainable practice. Or maybe it is. Of course, this gives influence, and influence is always worth something, but then again, I'm a bit afraid that Steemit is moving towards becoming a community of producers and not consumers. What is the value of influence if nobody reads what you write, or read it only to comment for upvotes?

But then again, sometimes I'm very optimistic, so who knows?