Should we be worried about too many users cashing out Hive in order to supplement their income?
(First of all, I have to apologize to friends from financially unstable countries for speaking about you as if you are not reading this post, parts of this post are meant for people living in more financially stable countries or situations though much of it is for everyone. I’m also trying to talk about this in as pragmatic way as possible, in terms of how to keep the price of Hive rising, I don't mean to sound insensitive. Make no mistake, I appreciate you and what you bring to the community, and please forgive the parts that sound cold and calculated)
This is a sentiment that my buddy @drunne responded to a few days ago in his post Venezuelans, Cryptos and Hive - An Explainer, one which I already replied to with regards to how we talk about the "3rd world" but have yet to reply to with regards to the role that the 3rd world can play at Hive.
If users from wealthier or more financially stable countries are more likely to invest and raise the price of Hive, then shouldn't we be focused more on prioritizing them?
The short answer is: We should try and bring in everyone who can add anything to our community.
I think the "3rd world" will play an incredibly important part of the success of Hive and should be more than welcome here, not only out of decency (which is important) but also because the positives outweighs the negatives.
People shouldn’t be shamed for cashing out, especially if a few Hive make a big difference where they live. At the same time, we should be doing everything to encourage people to power up and invest as much as possible. Anyone cashing out should probably be held to a higher standard for content quality and community engagement. I think that in general they are, and so there isn't much of a problem, but by analyzing the role that people from different countries can play at the platform, we can actually leverage our diversity to benefit everyone.
The issue of "value"
If you think about tokenomics, you may be concerned to see a large amount of people powering down or receiving all their rewards as liquid rewards. As you very well should be.
The hard reality is that we cannot all cash out Hive into local currencies to live. In order for some of us to sell at a given price, there has to be a buyer on the other end.
If the amount of people willing to sell at .40 or .50 hits 0 and there are buyers and sellers at higher prices, the price goes up. Development, FOMO, fundamentals, community are what cause people to want to invest despite rising prices.
In theory, we could all hype the coin and let speculators pump it so we can all profit and leave the speculators with empty bags. This would be a nice payday for all of us but it’s certainly not a way to build an ecosystem. If we want this place to continue to thrive, we need to convince people the token is valuable, and no one will think that if everyone is selling.
Where the “3rd world" shines
If that’s the case, then what of Venezuela and Nigeria and other countries where the economic situation is far from ideal AND the cost of living is something you could easily afford by putting some time and effort into Hive? Wouldn’t we want to avoid attracting more people from these countries because they tend to cash out, which is a drain on the value of the coin?
Well, if you look solely at the behavior of wallets from those countries, it’s easy to see how one would draw that conclusion. Realistically though, I don’t think anything could be further from the case.
These are not all shitposters! A quick look at #naturalmedicine or #leofinance or a number of other communities and you’ll see that some of the best posts are made by people from South America, South Asia, Africa etc. Good content is always important to prove to investors that the token is valuable.
Many of these users are high in engagement, so not only do they contribute to our numbers but also to blockchain activity. Another huge positive.
The sheer number of people in these countries who are interested in earning on the blockchain is HIGH and so potential to draw in new users is also high.
Not everyone from these countries is selling. I know a bunch who work hard just so they don’t have to.
The relationships made between people in different economic circumstances can bring about all kinds of opportunities for everyone. We have only begun to scrape the surface...
What kind of opportunities?
Life changing wealth is a very different number depending on where you live. This is why I’m sometimes more likely to give a small present to friends from Venezuela or Nigeria. It’s not cause I pity them. I do not pity anyone here. I am not giving charity. These are my equals. It’s because I know that the little bit I can give goes a lot further. I’d love it if I could change an Australian friends life with a small amount of money or hive but the cost of living is just too high in Australia to make that kind of difference it doesn’t mean I won’t send some love to friends in Australia or UK, but seeing how much of a difference Hive can make in these countries gives us a glimpse of what it could do all over the world of Hive finds investors.
It also creates a lot more incentive to do work like curating or participate in other projects when it will earn you as much or more than a part time job. Rent in my city costs $700-$1000 on average for two people. It would take a whole lot of Hive to pay for that right now so you won’t be able to motivate me to WORK for something that I don’t enjoy unless it’s to build something that I want to see at the platform, and there are some jobs here that are WORK. If my rent was $50-250 I'd be much more willing.
The biggest opportunities I see are the ones that are a little bit further down the line and take a little more imagination.
For example, I have a friend who is always powering down. I told her “Hey, you know I’d upvote you 100% instead of 50% if you weren’t always powering down.” She then told me that she’s trying to start a business and needs all the money she can get, and that once she does, she plans on buying back in. In this situation I can totally appreciate a power down. Using Hive to build a more ideal life with multiple streams of income, only to buy in bigger later, that’s something that is much easier to accomplish somewhere with a low cost of living, and so I am rooting for her, and started using 100% on her posts again. I know her for 4 years already, I know she will at least try her best to follow through.
There are bigger ways that our diversity can help too. I’m an American. Imagine I want to take my business overseas and enter into a new market. I could realistically find people to work with at Hive. It would take a long time for me to build trust, and I would probably not like being constantly invited for such things, but this is not outside the realm of possibilities.
Imagine my friend in Venezuela wants to start a business and I could help him by investing. I probably wouldn’t do so just yet because there are so many risks involved. But let’s say we meet a few times and I go to visit, doing my research on the whole business situation over there. I find a way to insure myself. I’d absolutely love to invest if it’s someone I trust who has a good idea and I've done my homework.
Thanks to the connections we make here we can become aware of opportunities around the world.
It may be a while before I can hire people for my business, but I'd love it if I could offer jobs to friends from Hive, especially friends who are good at what they do.
Once travel opens up, we will have a flood of backpackers joining hive or getting more active again. These countries offer great communities for them to go visit too, and strengthen our ties.
Keeping wealth inside the ecosystem
The last thing that will become easier in countries with more economic instability and perhaps the number one factor that we should focus on, is that these places are ripe with opportunities to do transactions in Hive, keeping the wealth inside of the ecosystem. If I want to sell some accessories in Japan and I accept Hive, it’ll be a long time before I can make a living doing that. We only have a dozen or so active members from Japan and I don’t see it growing rapidly anytime soon. On the other hand, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine 1000-5000 users in Manila, Lagos, or Caracas. Now it becomes a lot easier for me to sell my accessories in exchange for Hive if I live in one of these places. I could do car repair or babysitting or open a restaurant catering partly to Hivesters and accept Hive. Once we hit a critical mass of a few thousand in one city, this becomes possible.
The more goods and services available with Hive, the less reason people have to sell. It may be impossible for Hive will become used city-wide by everyone, but we could have users in this cities pushing to get adoption in restaurants and businesses. If the local currency is unstable and there are already thousands of users it’s a whole lot easier.
Thinking of that, don’t you want even more Venezuelans here? Don’t you wanna see Hive adopted by entire communities? Places with economic instability are our best shot. And so many of these people have great things to offer too.
In the end, it’s not about where people come, but their behavior in the community.
We can all encourage behavior that benefits the blockchain, price of the coin, and the feeling of community with our votes.
If you are going to sell Hive to live, do it at the highest price possible. Don’t accept half as much for you coins. Obviously if you are in dire straights it’s hard, but try your best not to accept just any price. By getting a few weeks ahead on your expenses this gets a lot easier, so next time some clueless investors pump the price, it’s a good time to get ahead and cash out a little extra so you can wait for the big pumps.
Transact wherever possible using Hive. Anyone can do this. Accept it for your services and advertise within the community. If you need an artist or class or translator something of the sort, see if you can find one within the community. Offer more if they accept powered up Hive Power.
If you are cashing out, do other things that benefit the community and bring in investors Bring your friends into the ecosystem or contribute to important projects.
Try to see Hive as a long term investment rather than a main source of income. Obviously in some situations it's really hard to find a good job, but you'll be happier if you don't have all your eggs in one basket. You'll also be much happier to cash out at $2 than $0.40!
You can encourage others to power up with your vote. I don't recommend denying votes to people cashing out, but I am much quicker to give 100% to someone who is powering up.
Rather than making this about where people are from or rather they cash out, we should look first and foremost on what people bring to the ecosystem. We should be discouraging spam, manipulative behavior, begging and phishing but none of this has to do with where people or from or even if they are investors or not.
If you see someone who thinks this is a quick way to earn a buck and doesn't seem to care much about quality or community, give them a nudge. Some people don't believe that such good things exist and so their first instinct is to try and GET whatever they can. Let them know what's up, that if they learn how to GIVE they'll get a whole lot more in the end.
I believe that the “3rd world” is the backbone of Hive. They breath life into the community and are an irreplaceable asset that we haven’t even begun to realize the true value of.
There is more to contribute than just monetary investment.
The value proposition of Hive is based on the projects developed on it, quality of content and relationships, and strength of community. That means that if you write great material that moves people, or if you build real relationships that matter, you are adding something to the chain. Anything that might make someone want to come here or stay here adds something to the chain, especially those consistent with the values that we wish to have at our core. Diversity is obviously a good thing. That means diversity of backgrounds and also diversity in what people bring to the ecosystem.
I'd love to get your feedback on this, regardless of where you are from and regardless of your economic situation, so please share your thoughts!
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