The less we cash out, the better for all of us - so lets gather all the ideas we can on how to make use of our money within the Steem system.

With *cashing out* I mean selling your STEEM, Steem Backed Dollars (SBD) or Steem Power (SP) for some other currency like bitcoin or USD. To make it simple I'll just use *cashing out*.

## Do you really need to cash out?
**If you need the money for paying taxes**, you might have no choice but to cash out. For anything else we should try to find ways of spending without exiting the Steem system. It may not work out, but it's worth trying. If Steem is to become a viable payment option, it has to start somewhere. Someone has to be the first one to accept SBD as a payment. So before cashing out, think whether you could try to pay with SBD.

**If you just want to realize your capital gains** -but not spend- your earnings from Steem, you can aquire SBD on the internal market. That's what SBD is for. You stay in the system without the volatility, and for holding SBD you get paid interest. More about SBD [here](https://steemit.com/steem/@dantheman/introduction-to-steem-dollars-sbd).

**If you want to speculate on other currencies**, you might need to cash out. Of course the recommended action in this case is using some of your risky FIAT money like EUR, but if you have none, you have little choice. You might also want to consider speculating on STEEM, which might rise 100x like ETH did.

**If you need to buy something and the merchant won't accept a superior currency**, you might need to cash out. Still, it might be a smarter choice to spend some of your boring FIAT, because you don't get any interest on it do you? It's smarter to hold on to something that gives you capital gains (assets) and dispose the rest. 

## How can we spend without exiting the Steem ecosystem?
- What are the cases and arguments **for** exiting the system, and what can be done about them?
- How can we get individuals and merchants to accept SBD? Will paying 10% extra work?
- How can we make sure people don't exit the system only because of ignorance? I mean not noticing that you can actually earn interest with little risk by holding SBD.