Is time running out for Ethereum Classic and Steemit?The two top-six cryptocurrencies come from very different origins, with Steemit being a deliberately engineered blockchain-based social network, while Ethereum Classic was an unplanned fork of Ethereum created after the DAO hack.However, they do share several important similarities: both came to prominence about a month ago, both experienced massive growth spurts over a short period of time, and both are now seeing their value melt away daily.
Ethereum Classic’s dubious beginning and decline after an initial bubble
Following the DAO debacle in which millions of Ether were stolen, Ethereum was forked in an attempt to isolate and possibly recover the stolen funds. This lead to two Ethereums, the main fork and Ethereum Classic, the latter of which quickly jumped in price, leading to speculation that it might quickly become the third-ranked cryptocurrency after its creator and Bitcoin.Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin clearly stated that he would not support Ethereum Classic, even in the event that it overtook the original.That did not turn out to be the case. As soon as it burst onto the scene, Ethereum Classic quickly rose to almost $2 USD in late July.Then, in the early days of August, the price peaked at $2.76, maintaining a price of above $2 for the rest of the month’s first week. However, over the two weeks since then, the price has been in steady decline, resting at $1.42 at present.
Steemit out of steam as Synero approaches
The bubble which drew a host of new content providers to Steemit seems to be rapidly deflating. In mid-July, the price of Steem shot up to over $4 USD per unit.This led to fantastic tales from authors claiming massive payouts, which in turn led to a host of posts about how to get the most out of Steemit, finally devolving into even more circular, navel-gazing posts generically about Steemit.Since mid-late July, the price has maintained a steady decline. Just over the last week it has lost almost a third of its value, and now rests at $0.90, barely over one fifth of its peak value one month ago.Meanwhile, Synereo, a new competitor to the ostensibly decentralized, blockchain-based social networking, approaches for a piece of Steemit’s former glory. The newcomer promises the usual package of a peer-to-peer internet through user control over content, profiles, and monetization of content. Synereo plans to move to its alpha phase this September.
This a pretty sweet illustration
I haven't spent much time on Steemit yet - but my gut feeling is that it's biggest problem is a clunky user interface. It's not that there are too many self-referential posts about steemit, but that there is not an intuitive, easy way to find the sort of posts we want to see - at least for newcomers. Hopefully it will receive some updates to address this.