A NOOB’S SPECULATIONS ON PLAYING THE LONG GAME ON THE STEEM BLOCKCHAIN

Steemit used to be all that was the Steem blockchain. In fact, when I entered the blockchain space, the Steem ecosystem was barely formed. Yes, there were several frontends operating then – Dtube, Steepshots, Steemit, Dsound, Dlive, Esteem, and others I might not remember now but they were more or less frontends into Steemit, the social media platform. It was simply more about people creating alternative ways of viewing the Steemit platform, not ways of viewing the Steem blockchain.

In recent times, the ecosystem has begun to flower and what was once a desert with a few cacti, armadillos, dry riverbeds, cracked wagon trails, is now slowly evolving into a dense jungle thrilling with life and vibrant colours. So many of us used to the openness and great view of space from where we stood are still unable to come to terms with the dense foliage that has began to block our view. We are still trying to do things the old way but the old way is no longer working. It is slowly eroding, giving way for a much more vibrant and fulsome path.

I am not good at making changes naturally so it is quite surprising how quickly I have adapted to the new systems of content creation in the Steem ecosystem. It is surprising how quickly I have made myself available to investment opportunities in the face of public sentiments that differ from my own. Well not really, after all i did post audio recordings of me doing readings of my poem on Dsound back in the day. Do you remember the byteball craze several moons ago? People were selling byteball coins right, left and centre. Very few used those tokens as investment seeds. I know I spent mine as fast as it appeared on my byteball wallet. During that period, after the byteball was finished and I had spent the money on whatever need I was trying to assuage at that time, I learnt something. I learnt that the true crypto enthusiasts, the believers, the investors backing their investments with not just their money but with their belief, played the long game.

The long game is what we all calling hodling. It is what we call waiting and hoping for the best to come out of our investment. It is basically investing in the future. I first heard that word, hodling, during the 2017/2018 Bull Run. Prices were ripping through ATHs like no man business and i was selling as first as it was coming. I was like a man who discovered a forest filled with sugar cane, fat and sweet, waiting to be harvested. I harvested everything and planted nothing. At least, the Steem blockchain saved something for me through Steem Power. Then i didn’t know of the long game, of the waiting game, of investing in the project game. Today i know better.

Some months back, Steemmonster cards became the rave. Discord servers were tossing Steemmonster cards at passersby like tissue paper and because it had cost them nothing to get, like the byteball craze, like every airdrop on the blockchain space, people began to sell as fast as they got the cards. Today those cards are a revenue stream for those who had held on and bought more cards. They battle with it within Splinterlands game space and win cards as well as tokens, which is fun. They rent it out to those who need stronger cards for their battles, which is a passive revenue stream. During battles, winners get DEC (Dark Energy Crystals) which are tokens that can be used to either get potions that could help one get better cards, or can be exchanged for Steem or fiat. They sell cards they win at the end of every season if the cards are redundant to them. All these revenue streams come just from owning a few digital assets. Is this not business sense?

To make matters even more tiresome, the people behind palnet.io, the alternative frontend for content creators that offers its own token as rewards did an airdrop of its token for active users on the Steemit platform. Again, like before, the craze began again and Palcoin flew all over the place, people sold as fast as they could get their hands on them. In the midst of the selling frenzy, another project came in named Steemleo. I don’t think anyone saw the trick coming except those behind the Steemleo project. Instead of sharing tokens based on activity on Steemit or based on Steem Power, the Steemleo project decided to share their token based on the number of Palcoin staked by any one person. It meant that if you had a thousand Palcoin staked in your palnet.io wallet, then you will get a thousand Steemleo token airdropped to you. Again, the hodlers won and the sellers had to buy the token off the market.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying it is wrong to sell your tokens if your intent is to buy back in when the price is cheaper. I am saying that if you want to truly enjoy the crypto space, whether it be winter or summer, whether in a bull run or a bear crawl, you need to see the long game. You need to think further than your next check. I bought Steemmonster cards back then when people were selling. It wasn’t much – about 10 Steem worth. I don’t know how much those cards are worth now. I have never bothered to find out as the need to sell them has never crossed my mind. I am stacking them up. Yes, I play some seasons to get new cards, increase my DEC. I delegated some SP to the Steemmonster account to get some DEC and I intend to use all that DEC to get more cards. Are you beginning to get the picture?

I wonder what will happen when SMT finally burst into the scene. The total upheaval to so many notions it would cause would be unbelievable. There is so much speculation as to the effect or lack thereof it would have on the Steem ecosystem. First of, there are many projects on the Steem blockchain that have not taken to the Steem engine based tokenization project and I suspect that they are playing the waiting game, waiting for SMT to roll out before they launch their tokens. I wonder if the tokens running on the Steem engine exchange presently would do airdrops to migrate to SMT or to integrate with SMT. If that should happen, say Palcoin integrates with SMT and dishes out airdrops based on Palcoin staked, what will you get? Now understand that I am a noob, totally dumb with regards to the computations and technicalities of tokenization and blockchain protocols. I know nothing about what i am speculating about but think on it. There is already a precedent. Is it not possible? Are you ready to invest in this possibility?

My long game strategy is to select project ran by reliable folks and support them as best as my wallet would allow and watch my little babies grow and birth other little babies. It will take time that is why it is the long game. Meanwhile I am still working on my Steem Power as quick as my writing and curating will allow me. I think I have long passed the stage where I growled with heat anytime a spike in price hits the rumour mill. I just want to acquire as much as I can, now that i can, with the little that i have. All of this might be wishful thinking. I might wake up tomorrow and find that the Steem blockchain is gone but I am a dreamer, I have always been a dreamer. Allow me my happy dreams.

In other news, i got 20,000 geeks this morning. It is not worth much and i don’t know what project is behind that largesse. I am watching and waiting. Time will tell if this is the start of the lambo season or not. I will be hodling and investing piece by piece. What will you be doing?