I got into crypto about 2017 before the big drop in January 2018 if memory serves me correct and for some reason I am not a millionaire. Eth was trading at $198, Litecoin at $20 and Bitcoin was around $1,800. Now with the exception of the lucky few that purchased Bitcoin for pittance back in 2013 , most of us did not hit the goldrush. Crypto has been volatile ever since and if you have made money out of trading it even through the peaks and troughs then fair play to you. You are one of the few. In truth most people in the crypto space are actually down because they jump in when everything is flying and everything is awesome. FOMO hits in and they buy at the top only for the considerable fall that comes and then the bigger drop that comes after that which liquidates the masses or leaves people holding tokens that will only hit that buy in value again , maybe 2 years time during another bull run. Then came the meme coin craze. Who needs use cases when there's a funny photo of a cat that could make you a millionaire. I actually don't like this craze but yet it is the crypto I have made the most profit off. If you look back on my posts last July , I invested $200 in the Hawk Tuah token (the day she went viral) and I cashed out at $14,000. This was a great day for the parish and I was telling @bozz this week I got an I-phone pro max out of the profits and it is now my best ever friend. Way better than that Samsung 22, the dirtbird with its two windows. I kind of got out of crypto at that point. On a win. Don't tempt faith. Don't put in any more funds. That's it for me. I will just use the funds I have in the crypto space to buy other tokens and all that.
Anyway it got me thinking about the tokens that I hold that I have made profit in. With trading aside where I had some big wins, the coins I hold went down in value. Most just fizzled out. I didn't sell in time and if I sold I would have not made a profit. The coins I made a profit in were Iota in 2018, Neo after the change from Antshares, Gas which came from Neo, Hype in 2025 after it went from $20 to $50. Socios which is a sports token that went from 8 cent to 80 cent and maybe a handful more. The constant in all of this was Hive. Hive is stable , it's always between 15 cent and 25 cent. It's a safe pair of hands but one post and you earn Hive and even though it could be $2 posts or for some it is $40 posts. It is definitely one of the best crypto assets to get involved in. I spent a whole summer on telegram tapping this squirrel thing and I was tapping some monster on the head every few hours thinking we were going to strike gold. At the end of it I think I came out with the equivalent of 20 cent. If I spent the same time on Hive I would have easily of made over $100 in post rewards. But yet here I was tapping away for my 20 cent.
We don't realise what we have here
I remember in the old Steem platform Ned was saying that Steem was not necessary a blogging platform. They were a blockchain and Steemit was the blogging arm of this. In @tarazkp 's very good post the other day in which he questioned a new Community which looked like some kind of farming community, the same was said about Hive. More of these @tarazkp please by the way. It's good to have a high HP holder to be asking the relevant questions. They get answered when he comes asking unlike others that ask the same questions. But it was said again , not by Ned this time , that blogging is only a little part of Hive and some of us OG's would want to get that we are primarily a blogging platform out of our little peabrains. I was a little taken aback by this comment because I am one of those old traditionalists from Steem and Hive that like it to be a primarily blogging platform but he was right. I would like to think that the regulars keeping Hive active are in fact the middle class blogging community. Not some one in Caracus buying a basket full of crisps in HBD so they can reclaim a % of their outlay in HBD but I think this is where we are going.
So while I was off looking for riches in other crypto , Hive is still giving me my 13% ROI on HP and my 15% ROI on HBD which is not too shabby at all. The grass is always greener but my point is that I have never been down with Hive . Only up . Name a crypto that can boost this? Maybe Bitcoin or Eth. During the fork from Steem to Hive, I had 7 thousand SP . Then all of a sudden I had 7,000 Hive. Then I powered down and sold my Steem and purchased another 7,000 Hive. Overnight the Community actually doubled their money. Again a surplus.
What is Your The End Game?
I was watching Dragons Den the other day and one of the dragons asked the candidate what her exit strategy was. And he said everyone should have an exit strategy. The lady was surprised because this was her beloved business that she build from the ground up. It reminded me alot of some of my friends in Hive. They don't or never will have an exit strategy. I have learned in crypto that you need to buy a few nice things for yourself to stay motivated. I have only ever powered down twice. Once was a few months ago when the Valueplan outlays pissed me off so much that I just thought Hive was doomed. The other was before Covid in 2020 when my son was born and I thought I would not have time to post. I purchased a few goodies out of these two powerdowns which I do not regret. But again when you look at this with your crypto hat on , I made clear profit which is my intention in crypto but I have to say it is more than just crypto on Hive. Its people you get to know. The Community would not look admiringly at THE "It's just a token". I see some accounts have built up the HP to well over 100,000 and I look at them with admiration. Some of my best friends on here have built up a really high HP holding. Now these people have built it up fairly and through hard work and devotion on posting most days since the inception of Hive. I am very happy for them because I know them as decent individuals that want the best for Hive. They are now near the top of the foodchain. Now they got into it like me back in the day. For the dream. The dream that Hive would make us all millionaires. The dream that one post could be like a weeks wages and they would not have to work. Now the dream has diminished somewhat, maybe alot but they still hold their HP. But I have to ask them. What is your exit strategy or do you just love being on Hive?
Is it now more than a means to an end? Is it like being in the same job for years so you just carry on? Is there a number you are going to reach in HP and then you will take some funds out?? If yes , I am interested to know what this number is?? Or are you just like me and post for a hobby?
I really believe that if Hive went down the swanny , that some of my colleagues would happily go down with the ship without extracting any funds at all from the Community. Would they feel hard done by if this happened?
Would they feel bitter or would they have been happy to have enjoyed the ride and the posting for the last 7 years (or more on Steemit) without any profits?
At the end of the day it is just another crypto token? Right?
Most people see it this way. Most people who drain Hive's resources do not give a monkeys about Hive and they will hustle , scam and lie to drain every last token out of this place. It is just one other crypto token that can be abused. But for a few it is now embedded as part of their life. I would be fairly confident in saying most whales see Hive as just a token to profit on and our middle class who hold the 100k-200k Hive are the real ringbearers of the Community. The ones who have put in the hard work and have made it to this stage.
I have only found out about this KE ratio recently and I was disappointed to see I was a 12 on the scale which is a result of my two big powerdowns. I need to get this lower. Working on it. But on the other hand I do look at the KE ratios that are below 1.0 and think, you must really really believe in the Hive Blockchain even after many disappointments or let downs. Or someone put it to me yesterday that it shows a level of naivety in that persons thinking which was an interesting opinion on the KE ratio. So anyone below a KE of 1 is a hobbyist and just loves the Community and the crypto element is not of interest. This I can see as well so it is another way of looking at it. A KE of over 50 for example shows the real blaggards on the Hive Blockchain. They definitely had an exit strategy. If Hive does plummet to below say 5 cent. Will the KE's of over 3 say to themselves, I made the right decision here and sold when at the top. Probably.
But back to my point. You will earn more on Hive than 98% of any other crypto token if you keep at it. This should be our selling point. Nevermind your telegram tappy tappy scam coins. Nevermind your memecoins. Nevermind even your Ethereums or Litecoins. Hive is where you will make your most return in the long run if you are shrewd about when to sell. So rather than promoting holding all our Hive in HP , there is something to be said about making profit as well. Profit is what brings new users in. We are a very low risk investment. Maybe instead of promoting holding on to our HP we should be promoting what we purchased from our rewards to increase the userbase.