2018 was a rough year for cryptocurrency from a pricing standpoint. There is not doubt that a 70%-90% draw down is tough to swallow. However, that tells only a sliver of the entire picture.
Throughout the year, the development forged ahead. "Where we were blind, we can now see". A lot of the issues that were in front of us entering 2018 were addressed.
@chesatochi posted a terrific article on @dlike. It deals with the industry getting ahead of itself last year and what it will take to be a trillion dollar industry.
@chesatochi/the-secret-for-a-1-trillion-crypto-market-keep-building--coindesk
The name of the article says it all: KEEP DEVELOPING!!!
While this article focuses upon the financial aspect of cryptocurrency/blockchain and the need to build infrastructure out, I think it equally applies to what we see on Steem.
After all, this blockchain is simply a microcosm of what the entire industry is.
It is imperative that development keep taking place. I think most will agree with me that Steem's showing on State of the DApps is rather impressive. At present, there are 7 Steem DApps in the top 20 and 13 in the top 50. I think this is exceptional for a blockchain that few know about, is overlooked, and ranked in the 50s on coinmarketcap.
We all know that Steem has nowhere near the name recognition of EOS and Ethereum yet the DApps are hanging right there with the better publicized chains. This is a testament to the community that is on here.
Now is when the real fun begins. Steem, like the industry, has a number of issues that need addressing. Accessibility is one of the biggest, both from a user standpoint and that of a buyer of STEEM. There are very few exchanges that carry STEEM. This needs to be corrected. Over the last quarter, the community did a good job getting listed in different places (being on State of the DApps is a prime example). We need more.
Also, the sign up process is basically stopped. If memory serves me, we did under 100 accounts yesterday. That is not going to foster much growth. In the meantime, it is a windfall for the accounts presently here since it is a good time to earn rewards and power up. However, long term, we need thousands of accounts a day.
We also need a ton more developers. It is refreshing to see some development taking place that is creating tools and platforms to attract them. By having resources which will make it easier for developers to create, we can become an attractive destination.
Source
Finally, it is up to the non-technical people to keep posting, commenting, and upvoting. There are a number of applications listed on State of the DApps, the more they are used the better. It is up to us to add an app or two in a week to be sure we are supporting as many as we can.
This is a non-techie form of keep developing.
As a community, we can band together to create greater things. The foundation we are seeing put in place is very encouraging. This year should even be more impressive considering the starting point for the ecosystem is higher than it was a year ago.
My forecast is we will see the impact of the term "blockchain" severely reduced. In the end, people are not going to care. What will be the appeal is the applications. This is what we need to focus upon. As our applications improve, we have a much better chance of attracting non-crypto people.
A large part of the "lift" Steem is going to get is from the industry in general. As the entirety of the industry advances, legitimate projects will experience a tailwind. Being so young as a whole, the entire sector has a long way to go. Getting a few key things in place will go a long way to lifting all that is involved with this.
Therefore, we all just need to keep banging away at those keyboards.
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