I think you underestimate the amount of people on here now because of the free money who have became crypto enthusiasts after joining Steem/Steemit. I wonder if they would have come if they were told "They give you a little of money to tip with, then you have to buy it yourself."
Do you mean the people who come here for the free 0.50 Steem? If so, they don't have to tip at all. The extra money is needed for the bandwith. If they want to post, comment, and so on.
The same restrictions exist in the current system as well. And what's the impact of a 0.50 Steem Power account upvoting? Moreover, they don't need to tip 0.01 Steem. If I'm not mistaken, Steem has more digits than that.
If you think about it they donate 6.5% of their funds to the reward pool in a year anyway due to the inflation.
The incentive for me to invest in crypto for the purposes of giving it away are slim.
You are not giving away your crypto. You are tipping a fraction of it. In the current system, 6.5% of your investment is taken away from you as inflation tax in one year. In the tipping system, you can decide on that percentage.
The speculative nature of the coin can only last for so long before it levels out, when it does, so does the site.
Each business has its life cycle. Yet, the life cycle of a business can be very, very profitable for an investor.
I consider my earnings so far to be rather significant considering my super duper small monetary investment.
How about your time investment?
I agree that content has value, but not as much as relationships. The current system encourages relationships much more than yours would.
Not a big change. If you want to show your appreciation to a person you can tip their post and comment. They would tip you in return if they want to return the favor.
In the current system, you give away your money to others as well by upvoting their posts and comments. You just think you spend other people's money, but it's your money you are spending.
It's taken away from you with the inflation tax. Many people aren't aware of that. The current system puts the Steem Power holders at a great disadvantage. If it is not changed soon, one of the following two scenarios are going to happen.
- Steem Power holders are going to realize that they are being ripped off and sell the token off.
- There will be no more inflow of money to the token and its price will collapse.
Both scenarios is bad for Steemit.
I just have my doubts about its feasibility.
I have greater doubts about the feasibility and sustainability of Steemit on the long term unless this problem isn't solved soon.