Undoubtedly, many people who have been heavily invested in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and all the others are feeling the pinch as the prices have dropped precipitously. This brings up thoughts of the Tulip craze, the dotcom craze, and such. I never bought into the idea of purchasing cryptocurrencies as something to hold. I might be convinced to buy crypto for quick trades if I had the patience to sit there analyzing trends.
This is not to say that I have not experimented and profited from cryptocurrencies. I have made some money, accidentally, from ETH. I bought a few dollars early in anticipation of the dapps that were on the way. I forgot about it. Months later, I was shocked to see that my little purchase turned into a couple thousand dollars. I cashed out. This was an accident.
My use for crypto has primarily been for spending on specific items. I only buy crypto so that I can buy something else. My holding time is minutes. Typically, I buy a little bit extra for gas fees or just in case of minor price changes. My current ETH reserves value at around $1.50 from the change left over from transactions.
The one advantage that the bear market has given me is that it makes buying STEEM much more affordable. This is like having been on the platform when it started. Growing my stake would have been more challenging at the price when I first got on Steemit. My holdings are primarily in STEEM and MINDS, which are Ethereum tokens. The whole purpose for having these tokens is for social interaction. Quite frankly, it's hard to get any attention when your votes are worth $0.001 or less. Thus, my interest in growing my stake.
Again, I buy ETH so that I can buy more STEEM or MINDS. Being invested in these social networks brings me entertainment. I'm willing to spend on something I enjoy. Thus, these aren't crypto investments. They are a hobby.
I recognize that STEEM, for some, is a means for generating income. They too are feeling the pinch. Generating income from content alone at this time has to be difficult unless you are extremely popular or highly vested. It occurs to me that there should be a way for users to transact actual commerce through STEEM. One could wait until there is a dapp that facilitates transactions. Or, one could devise something of value that can be delivered in exchange for STEEM. This content creation thing is cool because of the low barrier to entry. It's also highly competitive because of the low barrier to entry.
There are so many moving parts. I find all of this puzzling. Until I have a better grasp, I'll continue to shy away from buy, hold, and pray cryptocurrencies.