With every cent that HIVE increases the value of my account goes up by $2322. This also means that it goes down by 2322 dollars for every cent it decreases too. However, with the pump on HIVE last night, the value of my account went up by around 40,000 dollars in value, which is "pretty decent" for a days work. Of course, this is all technical value, because while the dollar value has increased, the amount of HIVE in my wallet is the same, so the value in HIVE hasn't changed at all.
It is all about perspective.
When I first joined Steem Hive, I had no idea what I was doing and when I started "trading" for the first time in my life a few months later, I had no idea either. What I was doing was trying to increase the dollar value of my trading account, not increase the token volume of what I was holding. This meant that there were days where things looked pretty good, but I actually had less than I had started with in terms of holdings.
Not ideal.
Once I worked out that I am indeed an idiot, I began changing my perspective on what value meant, which also included how I saw my earnings through writing. Instead of looking at it from the perspective of the dollar value, I now see it in terms of the token amount and as such, I realized that the best time to earn on Hive is actually when the price of HIVE is lower. However, because of the HBD component of earnings, this isn't completely true either, but when the token price is lower, there are not only less people posting, what they post also changes.
Most people don't want to post "quality content" when they are going to get much smaller amounts for it. This is especially true for the people who are spending their earnings, because it then matters if selling one HIVE for 20 cents or for 60 cents. But, if not selling and looking to stack more HIVE, quality content stands out of the pack when prices are low and people are submitting shit.
But, the value of a post doesn't depend on the 7 day window unless selling what has been earned. For example, a 10 dollar post when HIVE is at 30 cents is a 20 dollar post when it is at 60 cents. And, if holding that HIVE until it is worth $3, the value of that post backdates and it is actually a hundred dollar post. But, what happens is that the people selling the lows are often selling to people willing to wait for the highs, or at least higher.
That is the point of trading, right? This means that no matter how widely spread votes go on chain, there is somewhat of a consolidation in the marketplace because people who are more willing to powerup and buy some are not looking to at least immediately sell it. Those who are selling to spend IRL, will essentially be getting their immediate fix, but be part of the consolidation, which also means that the consolidated HIVE will often get staked and earn curation and interest on the chain too.
A lot of people talk about this as against decentralization, but that is not actually the case, as long as there is enough spread of the tokens throughout the community to be able to mitigate the risks of monopolization and centralization. However, it also has the ability to stabilize the chain, as rather than for example a million accounts having a small investment each, there are 500 accounts who have significant investment and a lot to lose if things go south. They can't get out as easily and there is incentive to add value.
At the current market price, the value of my curation activity is earning a bit under 50 HIVE a day on average, which equates to $30 dollars US worth. However, while that sounds like a lot, it is actually not that much in terms of my daily salary in Finland. But, in order to have that come in, I have to risk (currently) 140K worth of value, which is a significant amount.
A lot of people will argue about the value they get from their posts etc and talk about fairness, but at the same time, many of those who argue don't actually have much skin in the game and the value of the posts are of course always subjective and often questionable. To earn on a post, the value comes from other stakeholders and as such, there is more value for them than what an individual post contains, because the account also can add value to the blockchain, just by holding or buying HIVE. This is something that large voters can consider, especially in terms of providing consistent support.
What is valuable - what is value?
It is such a very subjective estimation, and it is going to depend on personal conditions of the moment. For some the most valuable thing they can have is a dollar in their hand today. For others, it is being able to forego the dollar today for the chance at 10 dollars in a decade. For some, they think that a quality piece of writing is valuable., while for others it is about how that writing influences the reader and what activity it facilitates. Value to me isn't in the piece of information, it is in the application of the information through changes that can compound and add value for years to come.
As said, I didn't know much when I started participating in crypto, but I have learned a lot and applied a lot since and likely through my content, helped others along their journey also, as well as through using my stake to support them. There are likely thousands of different value propositions of varying sizes throughout the years and they have all compounded together in ways that might be recorded by the blockchain, and also not recorded, like the changing of people's behavior, the way they invest their resources and, the way they engage and interact with others. A hint of it might be written to the chain, but life is lived off chain too.
Everyone tells me to live in the now, as if spending my money to satisfy immediate desires is going to make me happy. What they don't seem to realize is that everyone is living in the now always, as that is all there is. Ten years down the track, will be the now also and what I am now doing is trying to increase the chances that the future now, is going to be significantly more valuable than the current now.
A future now filled with opportunity.
That is what value buys.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
