I hope it won't end up that way, but it is a massive worry. I think at the moment we're sort of in a chaos beta state where those traditional, and out right, money driven people are ruling the roost.
It isn't just at Steem, it is in crypto in general. The original model to break away from banks has ended up making billions for those who put the value right back in to things that end up in banks.
All or nothing is my current approach but how long I can keep it up I am unsure.
Absolutely.
I've been reading recently about the original cypherpunks and the first private key encryption as early as 1975. From what I've read, the mechanisms that have evolved into our current crypto's were developed by libertarians and anarchists to communicate, and eventually transact over the internet, privately & with 0% interference from banks/government agencies.
It seems to me that the whole thing has developed a million miles away from what it was intended for. As you rightly say, most of the value flowing into crypto is being appropriated/funnelled into agencies that are far from the decentralised ideals of the original creators of BTC and other cryptos.
I get where you're coming from. I'm putting a lot of time in but I try to look on it as both work and fun. Only time will tell if it pays off. I do think that if another bull run happens next year even close to when SMT's happen steem will do very well and it may be worth all the hard work, financially at least. I hope this can translate into a better, more fair & user-friendly steemit for everyone... again just have to wait and see 🙂
I think at some point I will have to slow down a bit and perhaps get some sleep :)