Recently I was asked what I thought that we could be doing to increase the value of STEEM.

Well, I’m no expert, but I do understand a few things and I certainly have some ideas. Since the currency STEEM is tied to the platform steemit, there are many things to take into consideration when evaluating how to answer this question. That being said, I know that I this will not be exhaustive, so please feel free to share any ideas that you have in the replies below, or just do your own post on the subject and link it below.

I’ll be attempting to answer that question by focusing on two different aspects as well: STEEM and steemit, and specific things that I believe we can be doing in each realm that should help.

THIS POST WILL FOCUS ON THE CURRENCY STEEM

STEEM

SUPPLY & DEMAND

One thing that I think can immediate help increase the value is not selling it. No one will ever pay 50 cents for 1 STEEM when people are willing to sell it for 15 cents. It just doesn’t make sense. Therefore, if you need to sell your STEEM, set your price higher. If we all did that, the only option that any buyer would have is paying more.

As I once said in a post a month or so again, “Your STEEM is worth a dime because you will sell it for a dime.” If people were willing to sell Gold for $50 USD per troy ounce, then the value of Gold would be $50 USD. I believe that STEEM is more valuable than the current price, and I have no intention of ever selling STEEM for any price even near to where it now is.

Also, it makes we wonder what would happen if we went on a “selling strike.” What if anyone who “needed” to sell STEEM sold it this week, and then no one sold any STEEM for a week or two? Based on my current understanding, there is no way that this would not increase the value of STEEM immediately.

ANOTHER SOURCE OF INCOME

I know that many people out there are using steemit as a source of income. Many even quit their jobs months ago to give it a full-time go on steemit. I was entertaining that idea myself, and perhaps one day I will, but right now I have too many upcoming purchases to make to have that be a logical decision.

For those who are currently using steemit as a source of income, it is a huge and helpful blessing for them, but it is also help to keep the value of STEEM lower that it would be otherwise. I too have been using steemit as a source of income, but I have only cashed out SBD, and I have not sold any of my STEEM.

The way that I see it, STEEM has incredible potential to increase in value. Therefore, I believe that it would be unwise to sell any of my STEEM for such a low price. If I can hang on until later, I should, or could, wind up getting a lot more for it. I think that the same is true for your STEEM. I know that it is often enticing to sell some of your STEEM right now for cheap, but perhaps it would be wiser to find some other source of income to replace whatever you have been getting for selling your STEEM.

Personally, I leave home at about 7am five days a week and don’t get back home until 6pm, at least… often it is later. For the time being, I’m working long and hard very often to have another source of income. I know that for many, working on steemit from home is a lot more appealing than being gone all day working for someone else, but I think that if we really put effort into doing what it takes to not sell our STEEM now, it’ll pay off for us by increasing the value.

Even if the value just doubled, you’d either get twice as much for your STEEM or you’d only need to sell half as much! That sounds excellent to me!

THE POWER DOWN

Once the time restriction on powering down was reduced, many more users began to power down. The goal of this powering down is by and large to sell the STEEM. The more people that are powering down and cashing out, the harder it will be for the value of STEEM to increase.

Obviously, some people just need the money right now, or just want it, so I’m not really going to attempt to convince others to do otherwise, though it would probably work out well if they did stop powering down.

The purpose of mentioning it here though is more to encourage others to wait. A lot of the Steem Power that was previously gained and is now being powered down will deplete itself in about another two months, for those who starting their power down right after HF16. This means that it is possible that in about 2-3 months, there simply won’t be as many people selling STEEM.

Of course many other vairaibles exist when evaluating the power down and how HF16 has influenced how users are using their power down option, but I believe that we will be seeing the trend that I mentioned above in the near future.

DIRECT WITHDRAWAL

If you’ve ever cashed out any STEEM or SBD, you’ve most likely had to go through a middle man to convert it into the current currency of your country. Most likely, it may have been Bitcoin (BTC). With my SHIFTCARD which is tied to my Coinbase account, I can instantly spend the BTC in my Coinbase wallet as easily as I could use a Debit Card tied to the USD in my bank account.

Though it is not that difficult to transfer STEEM to Bittrex or some other trading site and convert it into Bitcoin or some other currency, it still means that there is a process to go through, and a middle man. If STEEM required no middle man, then it would increase the ease with which it could be used, and I believe that would increase the value as well.

I can’t wait for the day that we can have a card tied directly to our steemit account and access the STEEM there for our purchases just like I can currently do with the BTC in my Coinbase wallet by using my Shiftcard.

CONCLUSION

Those are just a few of the ideas that I have been thinking about. As always, there is no guarantee and any investment can be a gamble, but I’m willing to do what I can to help.

Many of you are probably way more educated about financial issues, so what do you recommend (pertaining to STEEM) that I may have missed or left out?

I know that there are things that can happen to the platform steemit that can affect the value of STEEM as well, so I’ll be covering some ideas about that in the near future.