What Steem Truly Is (And No It Is Not Blogging)

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People seem to miss the point of Steem and what it is designed for. This is a problem since we see a lot of proposals and ideas tossed about that really, in the long run, have little to do with anything. Missing the main focus of the blockchain is what is leading things astray.

Can what answer the question what the Steem blockchain is for?

Let us start by saying what it is not. Steem is not a "virtual computer" used for any purpose like Ethereum or EOS. It is not meant to be an OS for the digital world.

It is also not a blockchain for bloggers.

Steem is a specialized blockchain. It simply exists to "tokenize the Internet". That is the vision of Steem.

This means that it is a place for people to come and build applications. Anyone with a website can monetize that site for his or her users. Whatever the activity that is incentivized, it can take place on Steem.

In the blockchain world, risk decreases over time. When a blockchain is new, it is most vulnerable. To start, it is extremely centralized. Whatever the process is (POW, POS, DPOS), all the power is in the hands of very few (perhaps even one or two). Bitcoin initially had one miner which meant that it took one to have a 51% attack. Over time, this changed.

The second problem with newer blockchains is simple business. Ideas fail and newer projects encounter problems that cannot often be overcome. Money, lack of expertise, and a host of other issues arise that doom many projects.

Steem is passed all that. There is 3 years of history with the blockchain running. Every 3 seconds, a new block is verified. Token distribution changed a great deal since the blockchain started paying out in July 2016.

What is exciting is MIRA is going to alter a lot from the technical perspective. Moving away from RAM for the master nodes radically changes the financial impact of running things. This cost savings will now trend with the price of hard drive memory as opposed to RAM. We could actually have a blockchain that gets LESS expensive to run over time. Ponder that for a few moments.

Gartner recently released a report that concluded 90% of blockchains will be obsolete by 2021. The reason is two fold: 1) scaling issues 2) overlapping and fragmentation across the industry.

http://businesscryptonews.com/gartner-blockchain-study-90-of-current-blockchains-obsolete-by-2021/

Here again, we see where Steem is different. MIRA and other changes should allow Steem to scale in a better fashion. Adding SSD memory is inexpensive. We are looking at the possibility that any decent sized application could have its own node. Many larger ones will most likely be running multiple nodes, furthering the decentralization.

There were a few scams on Steem the past year or two. This is the price we pay for having a system that is welcoming to developers. Steem is susceptible to this since the barrier to entry is low. I read that on some other blockchains, companies are looking at close to 6 figures to get started. On Steem, it takes a lot less. This opens us up to some nefarious individuals yet, in the long run, will attract more applications and businesses.

I do not believe the original vision of Steem was only to be a blogging platform. That might have been the starting point because Steemit.com was the first application. We long passed that point where content creation is in long form. Yet, many still are holding onto that ideal. Over the next few years, we are going to see applications that provide "content" that is in forms we never envisioned. Take a look at most any website and that could be tied to Steem.

That is what this blockchain is truly about. We are close to having one of the best performing blockchains out there with a cost structure that might be unmatched. Many of the bigger chains are pulling their hair out trying to figure out ways to scale, using either forks or layer 2 solutions. Steem has none of these issues.

Finally, as I mentioned on a number of occasions, Steem is Fast AND Free. That are no direct transactions costs. This is something that is going to become very important in the future. While we focus upon social media and the idea that people are not going to pay to place an upvote, there is something much bigger.

One of the biggest benefits to cryptocurrency is the ability to operate at the micro level. The present system has unit denominations that are not flexible. Hence we have a system that uses those denominations coupled with time. For example, car insurance is paid on an interval that everyone is accustomed to (maybe monthly or twice a year). Here is an idea: how about paying for insurance only when the car is moved? Thus we might be looking at a very small unit if I am only driving down the street. What is the charge on a 30 second car ride?

With fiat that cannot take place. In fact, with many blockchains, that is not possible. Yet on Steem, we can send .001 STEEM all day long.

With automation, we are going to see a lot of changes in terms of payment schedules.

Many of us believe that Steem is an overlooked gem for the reasons I mentioned. The inclination is to focus upon users and how many people are on here each day. We can all look up the results and see where Steem ranks in that department. It is right up there with the usage of DApps and transactions. The truth of the matter is few people, in general, are involved in blockchain.

There is often the analogy to the early days of the Internet and it is most likely applicable. In those days, the Internet was a geeks world. Not only was it difficult to use, but there was not a lot out there. The development of things such as web browsers were required. It was a long process that took years to unfold.

For whatever reason, people do not grasp we are at the same point. If we are truly the Internet circa 1993/1994, then do not expect 2002 activity. It simply is not there. Cryptocurrency is still too complicated for the masses, exchanges too complex, and user interfaces bland and lacking features.

There is one thing that will change this: development. As people start to realize how much easier it is to build upon Steem and the opportunity to monetize even the most basic of websites, we will be looking at a radically different future. This is how some can make such statements as "we are revolutionizing the Internet".

That is the grand vision for Steem. It is important that we keep that in mind.

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