We all have to follow our path towards what we believe works for us. For many people, there is a certain dream and mystique about the whole idea of "earning money online." And so, we pour our efforts into the pursuit of various approaches that might bring us what we're looking for.

Hive and its growing group of communities have really brought life to this, with all sorts of options now available to us to earn various "layer two" tokens, typically (but not always) an extension of the Hive-Engine Dex.

Of course, "micropayments" aren't anything new. More than 50 (I've lost count) venues have come and gone since 1998, all promising the same thing: "Earn tiny amounts of income each time someone looks at the content you create under our umbrella."

Whereas the whole idea may sound like it's full of promise, it's also a statement that is full of ambiguity. If we have to be perfectly honest about it, if you engage in some activity online — pretty much during all your waking hours — and you're rewarded with one cent you're technically speaking "earning money online."

But if you're objective truly is earning money, aren't you really better served by going and getting a job flipping burgers at McDonald's?

Semantics?

Maybe this is all just a matter of semantics. The "Absolute Technical Truth" isn't necessarily an endorsement that something works. And, to my mind, there is a difference between earning money online, and having a hobby that pays a few cents. I suppose it's all in the naming of things, as well as in our stated intention!

But let's get back to these micropayments.

I'm sure most of us get these little bits of rewards in our Hive-Engine wallets. It's not always easy to figure out why they are suddenly there, but I suppose you tagged a keyword that is included into the "pay to" tokenomics and rewards of a particular token. And so, we look at them and and then we discover that our two-and-a-half tokens from some Community we've never heard of has a market value of exactly zero, because it takes 173 of those tokens to make up one cent...

Crickets Chirp

Now, I do realize that it is "early days" for the whole web 3.0 and blockchain micropayments and all that and "we need to be patient" and what have you, but is there really a point here? Is this actually worthwhile? Moreover, if we save these tokens will they ever have any value at all? My "parent account" actually holds one token to the tune of about 37,000 of them, and they are not even worth one cent because the going rate is $0.00000003 per token!

And yet, a few more show up, every now and then... triggered by some tag I used.

A long time ago — long before there was cryptocurrency or there were blockchains — I was part of a major blogging site that actually had its own "currency." You could actually give an author so-called "eprops" if you liked their work.

Of course, the eprops had absolutely no commercial value except if you had enough of them — which was almost impossible to get — you could earn a discount when buying a premium subscription to the site to get some extra features. Ultimately, though, he eprops were basically bragging rights and little boosts for your ego... far more than they had any actual worth.

Now, I realize there may be those who are going to speak up and say "yeah, but look at InLeo and LEO tokens, they have value!" And I'm absolutely not going to argue with that.

However I will point out that InLeo is one of hundreds and that's not exactly an impressive success track record, particularly if we take into account that this isn't exactly new around here; some of these tokens existed before we even moved to the new Hive chain!

How Can This Actually WORK?

I'm not writing these words because it's my intention to rain on anyone's parade! I'm writing them because we talk about all this with great enthusiasm, but I wonder what is happening to make this concept something more substantial and tangible than just wishful thinking?

It seems like most attempts at sustainable tokenomics have not fared too well. Occasionally, we see a new community with a new Layer 2 token get off to a rip-roaring start, but 12 months later its value has dropped by 99%.

Seems to me there's an issue there that is not being seriously addressed. The value proposition. The compelling reason to actually hang on to some of those tokens, rather than just relentlessly sell them to... presumably... sell them in order to acquire something else that has more perceived value to us.

Utility and perceived value are slippery beasts.

For Example...

Let's say I am rewarded "Token X."

If I had the knowledge that if I saved up enough of those tokens, I could buy a bag of cat food from a fellow community member paying with those tokens, I'd likely be inspired to save them, rather than sell them. Suddenly those micropayments would make more sense.

Some might say "Oh, PRODUCTS are so Web 2.0!"

Yeah, well. Eating is probably *"So Web 2.0" as well, as is wearing clothes.

However, we haven't "transitioned" physical existence and become pure A.I. yet, so let's continue with examples of what we actually need in life, as we currently know it.

Of course, "value propositions" can mean lots of things.

It's just a matter of finding and them implementing those that can make this "amazing and prosperous future" we're talking about tangibly possible.

And yes, I do like to play Devil's Advocate, but only because sometimes humanity needs a dose of reality injected into its fantasy life!

=^..=

Curator Cat 05 November, 2023