What is BelaCam and BELA, and what determines BELA’s price?

BELA is the official currency for BelaCam, a cryptoasset based social media platform focused on the promotion of visual art. It’s one of a number of platforms that help monetize our social engagements. Something I find interesting is that people are still quite apprehensive about these platforms. I do understand that cryptoassets are still fairly new. But we finally have a chance to get something a little more tangible than an upvote and sense of satisfaction for the content that we produce.

I’ve recently started some contract work as their Outreach Manager for the BELA Token Department. The primary use of BELA is to give likes to people who post on the platform. You cannot give likes without BELA. Since BELA is an ERC-20 token, it can be traded to anyone with an Ethereum wallet. Not only are there numerous extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers, Opera has developed a version of its browser with built in wallet support. There is definitely a push to make blockchain technology mainstream technology rather than fringe technology.

BELA is also listed on a few exchanges, so it can be converted to Ethereum or another asset, and even to US dollars. And of course once it’s converted into USD, the money can be used anywhere. 

Ways to Get BELA

There are three ways to get BELA. The first way is to post quality content to the platform and gain followers. The more content and followers you have on the platform, the more you’ll get tipped. The second way is to invite new users with your referral link. Here's my referral link: https://www.belacam.com/ref/alc_anthro

Each referral gives you a certain number of BELA. The amount you get increases with the number of referrals.

The final way of getting BELA is staking, which I’ll be discussing in a future article. 

Why Has BELA Gone Down?

Some people have asked why the price of BELA is so low right now. When someone posts their art on BelaCam, there’s a chance to get something a bit more tangible than self-satisfaction, however because the only current use of BELA is to give likes, it isn’t really a currency right now. It’s one reason why I wouldn’t call BELA a cryptocurrency, but rather a cryptoasset. One of the core features of a solid currency is its ability to be exchanged for many goods. Some items are imperfect currencies: they cannot be exchanged for any available good or service. The more universally accepted an item is, the closer it is to a perfect currency. 

The primary value that BELA has then is derived from the amount of activity on the platform. The more activity, the more valuable BELA becomes. A person who is concerned about the current and future price of BELA should therefore look to promote the platform by posting quality content and bringing in as many new people as possible.

Improving BELA

However, there are other ways to improve the purchasing power and price stability of BELA. Some of these ideas have been mentioned in the Telegram group chat, which you’re welcome to join. Other ideas are my own personal creation.

For instance, the more people who hold BELA, the more people will want BELA to succeed. Consider giving some BELA, either as a gift or or maybe a tip for some work that a colleague or friend has done for you. They might not accept payment in BELA, but if you’ve recently commissioned some artwork, say thank you by giving a few BELA, and letting them know about the platform.

Simply by giving some BELA to the person, they will now have an investment in BELA and it’s more likely that they’ll want BELA and BelaCam to succeed. They’re also going to be more likely to use BelaCam if they already BELA to give likes. It’s one reason why BelaCam and other companies do airdrops.

More Day Traders

Some people have a negative view of day traders. I don’t. I think day traders are an important part of the market ecosystem. One reason why BELA has dropped so much in recent weeks is that the cryptoasset market has a whole has seen a general downturn. Unfortunately because the trading volume for BELA is much lower, there’s higher volatility. 

Day traders bridge the gap between longer term buyers and sellers. They create liquidity in the market, and they generate profit based on providing that liquidity. With few traders in the market, people have to take whatever price they can get, and there are often significant gaps between the bid and ask price. This issue can be seen with the difference between OTC stocks and stocks which are listed on major exchanges and have significant trading volumes. 

The Universal Artist Guild

The UAG, a project that I’ve been working on for some time, while completely independent of BelaCam, may be able to work together with the company. This idea is really my own, and is not something that the BelaCam team have given any thought to, let agreed to do. However, the guild would be a good way to promote BelaCam and BELA, its members could definitely take advantage of the platform, and if I ever manage to get a print on demand service running, which is something that I would love to do if I ever have the resources, I may very well start to accept BELA as payment. It would increase the number of uses for BELA, increase demand for BELA, and allow artists to take the BELA that they’ve collected from the platform and use it for something even more tangible.

Summery

BelaCam is a platform with a lot of potential. It can help monetize what artists do every day when they post content to their social media accounts. BELA tokenizes user engagement with the art that is published on social media, giving something greater in value than an addictive “like.” The primary function of BELA is, and should be, giving something of value when we like someone’s posts, however it can grow to be more, especially with third party support.

Note: While I try to be as balanced and objective as possible, to maintain a high ethical standard, it is important to point out that I am getting paid as a contractor to write about BELA. I am not a professional investment adviser and these are my own thoughts. Investing and trading carries certain risks and requires a certain degree of understanding of market conditions. Futhermore, this article represents my own thoughts and is not the official stance of BelaCam or its associates.

Further Reading

Token Health Starts at the Community Level

BELA has struggled with maintaining its price. Many tokens have. One of the problem is that the communities involved in the tokens tend to avoid supporting those tokens using native projects. Things need to change.