Making It Work: The Steem Ecosystem. "THINKING OUT OF THE BOX"!

in #steem6 years ago (edited)

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, all the best in this season of giving, loving and warmheartedness. I guess "Seasons Greetings" would be appropriate too!

This post may be well accepted by some, may not be well accepted by others, all in all, as in real life, it isn't always what is said, but "Who says it".
However, in this case, it isn't a case of the person saying it, it is the people who need to "hear it", who need to suck up their ego's and pride and just not care as to who the source is, but take it and work with it.

If the shoe fits, wear it!



So here goes:

The Steem ecosystem is probably if not the most fantastic economical concept seen to date in the world of "economics".

Maybe not so original in some aspects, but overall, with the combination and the way in which the pieces have been put together the overall "system" is marvellous.

However,

We see that there are some oversights, the main one being the cause of most of our grief.

What is that? some may be thinking right now.

It is the fact that our main business/commerce crypto token SBD can't seem to be pegged to $1 US.

Theoretically it is possible, as was stated in the whitepaper and sure, kudos to @dan who was the main mastermind in putting most of it, if not all of it together.

I have to say here, that what I do like about @dan is the way his mind works.

HE THINKS OUT OF THE BOX.

I can safely say that, because, his actions and ideas prove it.

However, when putting ideas/theories into action some issues always arise.

In the case of Steem, it is most definitely the pegging of the Crypto Token "SBD" to the USD.

I am sure that most of us have to date noticed this and based on all the ideas thrown around within the common sphere of how things are done in the crypto scene, I dare say that this is probably the main cause of ALL our headaches.


Some people have been throwing out the notion that SBD should be done away with!

WTF?

Destroy the concept of this magnificent ecosystem that has the potential to change the world?

Seriously?


Why am I being so dramatic with the above statement?

Well, first of all, lets look at the facts:

Steem (the crypto currency) is an inflationary currency.

So lets all think about that for a moment or two;

If put into a bank and if it just sits there, with the inflation rates it will lose in its "buying power" and overall value.

Simple as that really, without going into all the nitty gritty that many theory orientated minds like to go into.

So, which of the businesses out there would be willing to take on Steem instead of USD?

Those that don't want FIAT? or maybe those that live in a state where crypto is defined in the tax laws?
(Sarcasm)

I highly doubt it.

One of the biggest issues of "crypto" is that it falls under different categories in different countries. So the taxes that apply to crypto differ.

This really makes it difficult to sell the idea of a "crypto token" being = $1, in many more ways than one.

So even if the crpyto token SBD were to be able to be pegged to $1 as such, we are making life hard on the businesses out there in this world. Taxes on assets and profits etc etc etc. As if it isn't complicated enough for them already.

That is the reality of things, no matter how much anyone would like to talk about "what could be one day in the future", this is literally what we are faced with.

For those of us who believe that we can start the process of change in this world via crypto, we need to understand that we are living on this earth and that we need to overcome the challenges that we are faced with.

Change is a process!


OK, enough of an intro, time to get to the point.

Note: For those who skipped the intro, well, the rest of this could be a little too dramatic to accept.


So, here comes the parts that are going to definitely be taken the wrong way by many out there for whatever reasons.


As stated earlier, "Crypto" tokens are volatile, they are subject to market manipulation, different laws in different states and definitely as in the case of Steem, they are inflationary.

So how can we go about pleasing those who see the revolutionary concept of our Steem ecosystem and at the same time please those who want to get rid of SBD in its entirety?

Sounds impossible right?

Maybe to some, but lets think out of the box.


If SBD wasn't a "crypto currency" it wouldn't fall under the laws of "crypto" it would fall under existing laws of each state out there.

How can this be done?

Well, it's not all that "complicated" really.

If we were to declare SBD an internal "point" that is exclusively and nothing more nor less than an internal "User Reward Point", lets say for arguments sake:

Steem Backed Dollar Points (SBDP)

Yes, that's right. It no longer is a "crypto currency" and from that moment onward can not be traded as such, that would mean it is limited to our Steem blockchain and can only be used within our ecosystem.


Coffee break, many may need a breather for that one.

an "OMG" or a "WTF" or both of 'em moment for many.


Lets move on, when you are ready;

Points, Reward Points, Loyalty points, exchangeable points for discounts etc etc etc.

None of these are new to the world or business and commerce.

All of the states have laws that govern these types of transactions.

Hence, this is "ACCEPTED" and as such doesn't pose an issue on that side of things, as I mentioned earlier.

Don't believe me?

Google is our best friend for moments like this:

& what about some other searches on the topic, using different key words or phrases;


So from the above two snapshots we can see clearly that what I have stated about "Point Rewards" being accepted world wide and not posing an issue was 100% TRUE.


How does this affect the use of SBDP (points)?

Well, in some states, this could be a tax write off, it could fall under "barter" when they are exchanged for goods or services etc etc etc. All in all, the laws of the states out there have laws that are amicable to the businesses and not a killer of profits as when a business uses crypto tokens.

Basically, my point about that is clear by now and I am sure I don't need to flog it any more.


So, let's move onto the next topic;

How shall this affect our Steem ecosystem?

Ohhh man, here comes a can of worms, a Pandoras box and a million and one people who may stop reading at this point and start thinking within the to date criteria of the BTC generation thought patterns.


THINK OUT OF THE BOX!


Well, for starters, ALL of the crypto called SBD would no longer exist.

Yes, that is right, SBD would no longer be a tradable crypto, as it simply would no longer exist.


Would this imply that the owners of SBD shall lose anything?

NO.

As their crypto would be either exchanged for Steem (crypto) at the current market prices or exchanged for SBDP (points) in accordance with their own wishes/choices. Hence no owner of SBD would be at a loss.

What this means is that SBD would have o be "recalled" and the owners of it can choose what to do with it.

Considering that SBD is currently at under $1 US, I dare say that most shall probably choose to keep their SBD and have it converted to SBDP which shall always be worth $1 US of Steem.


Secondly;

The Steem ecosystem shall continue to function as per the original concept. We are not ruining anything that we have.

The SBDP shall always be pegged to $1US.

It shall ONLY be exchangeable to $1 worth of Steem via the internal exchange, which burns SBDP when doing so, hence further enhancing the ecosystem and most importantly SBDP can be used by any and all businesses out there in this world as a safe means of doing business without all the complications that state laws inflict upon those using crypto.

What they do with their points is up to them. Shall they exchange them for crypto assets or barter them for something else with businesses that accept points (offer discounts for points), is totally up them.


I believe that this concept is at this point very clear to most people who have read this post.

The sad part about this post is that if @dan or @markzuckenberg or some other person like them had said it, it would be all the rave in discussion topics and commenting.

As I mentioned in the very beginning of this post, it unfortunately comes down to “Who” says it and not what is said.


I am sure that many who read this post, such as @pennsif, @whatsup, @shadowspub and many others out there won't "judge" the post or idea by the author for who s/he is, but actually "chew on the idea", "sleep on it" and be able to accept the fact of how we have many options available to us. Including but not limited to the one I presented in this post.

So far to date, with all the FUD out there, it is becoming difficult to keep an open mind, let alone think out of the box. All the negativity broadcast by those who are constantly living and thinking fiat has flooded the crypto world as the fiat values of crypto are not where most of us would like them to be!

I personally have been chewing on this concept for months.

Have literally spoken to a number of people who are in the economics branches, to two people who are in the legal branches and just as importantly to a number of private business people and crypto enthusiasts who have hacked away at this concept and so far not found a flaw in it.

Hence, why I have finally put it out in the open to get chewed on by "everyone" who actually reads the entire post and doesn't just "skim over it".


To the idea of Steem making the world a better place for one and all, to the idea of keeping our goal of making Steem the dream, I salute you.

#STEEM ON

Yours truly

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Hello jackmiller,

First of all, I wish you happy holidays and all the best to you in the year to come!

And now I'll be glad to discuss your ideas.

If I can summarize your thoughts, you point out two issues with Steem and Crypto in general: the dysfunctional pegging of SBD to USD, and the lack of tax harmonization between countries.

Getting to your propositions--some of them are making me scratch my head.

-SBD as a crypto is deleted, and no longer tradable, then exchanged either for steem or sbdp.

Despite the SBD's trading rate on open market, I believe the conversion of 1 SBD for 1$ worth of Steem is still possible at this date by executing the command convert_sbd on the cli_wallet, so it relativizes the failure of the SBD pegging (even if not really user friendly)
The SBDP's property you describe sounds like a mimic of the existing conversion by smart contract.

I'll disregard for now the eventual legal benefit to call this a "point" rather than a "token". It's a bit tricky to say for sure what would be considered as a discount from reward point, and taxable income.

From a technical standpoint, if it can't be traded openly, it must be made impossible to send it from an account to another (because that's all it takes for an exchange to open a trading pair on it--this and volume for profitability )

If not backed by a smart contract on the blockchain, then by what? A third party ?

Moreover if this SBDP is not exchanged on the steem blockchain, it would lose the benefit of near instant and free transactions.

Also, I see some friction coming if the conversion is presented as a mandatory operation, because yes, from an investor / trader / gambler point of view, buying sbd up to 13$ dollar at one point, then been called out at 1$, without having the choice to wait for it to eventually rebound, is a loss.

Please read below, I responded without realizing that I was in our family account @millers, "morning issues"

@jackmiller

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They are change times @jackmiller, everything you have said here is supported by a tangible logic, the phrase "out of the box" connects me immediately to the way we analyze things: Most of the time it is necessary to leave the system , and study it as an expectation, is the only way to be objective, achieve efficiency and effectiveness, it is not the time to point, judge or keep thinking about the past, I think the concept of Synergy, would be appropriate to apply it, way that produces additional effects resulting from the work together. Considering that the Steem ecosystem is wonderful, and has a powerful vision,
I really like this that you placed at the end:

To the idea that Steem makes the world a better place for everyone, to the idea of maintaining our goal of making Steem the dream, I greet you.

A lot to think about!

All I want is for Steem (the idea of it changing this world into a better place) to happen, and that won't happen as long as people keep thinking within the "boxes" that we keep falling into.

Crypto "minds" can't grasp reality,
Fiat "minds" can't grasp crypto,

and that is the jist of things as far as WHY we can't move forwards with this entire new concept that crpyto, and in particular Steem have to offer.

Great, out of the box, I really like the idea of the methodology used by the scientist Peter Checkland, to solve complex problems:
Learning: Continuous flow of ideas, knowledge, etc.
Culture: Understanding the problem, limits restrictions.
Participation: A more participation, more success.
Modes of thoughts: Divided into the current of logical inquiry and the current of cultural research.
We debated in two thoughts, unification of criteria, and a plan of decisive action.

Hello Jack,

just came across this very appealing read. We at @impactn are thinking along lines, which are to some extent quite similar.

Our goal: a token economy incentivising those, participating in the generation of social impact (good education, clean oceans, saved bees...).
Our challenge: how do we make people move from the FIAT world into the crypto-world
Our answer: start with a system of reward points, which are not transferable between users (and issued by a third party), then give them an incentive to move into the crypto system and use token
The incentive: being able to (micro)-fund good projects all over the world and to pool token to finance projects.

Any ideas on this? Would be great to have an exchange.

So if I understood right, you plan on setting up the community of people first, have a network in place, all of whom have "earned" the mentioned points and then set up a blockchain along with a crypto token.

Did I get that part right?

We'll have two starting points.

The first one you described correctly.

The second one will be working together with a part of the Steem community already engaging in favour of social impact.

So our task is to merge these two approaches, while introducing the social impact token at some point.

This describes the setup of the start phase. We think, for a long time to be we'll need to have the opportunity for non-cryptos to start with reward points and then slowly "slide" into crypto.
So there will always be a non-crypto and a crypto-community plus a hybrid business model. Within this buiness modle there'll be the possibility of transferring points into token - not vice versa.

I believe you have the right idea as far as the general step by step process goes. Although I don't see why the business aspect would have to be limited one merchant (your store), maybe as a starting point, but definitely leave it open to the market.

As for the code, you already have 99% of what you described in the Steem code, which is open source.

The only thing I couldn't figure out is "Why restrict the transfer of points?"

I fail to see any benefits to it, especially considering the fact that no matter what we do, "black market practices" shall always exist.

People are most productive when it comes to finding ways to beat the system, so called "loop holes".

So, rather than "outlaw it", let it be legit and let people send them to each other freely, that would be my stand on that.

Thanks for the comments. Why restirct the transfer of the points?
The idea was, to have a many incentives as possible to join the cryptoworld. A big one would be to have the possbility of points-transfer. We don't really care about people beating the system. It'll probably be a minor part.
Concerning the market you are completely right. Somehow I must have explained it badly: we plan to open up a marketplace open to vendors, since our business will be the platform and not a store.
Great information of yours, that 99% of the code already exists. Thus, we can concentrate on UX/UI and marketing.

Moving the reward into a currency is not a difficult transition. The reward begins as a function-able token, It has a purpose it may be used in some manner of redemption for an alternative reward. It is basically a currency with 0 value outside of the circle it operates within. Making it a currency is as simple as giving it a value.

In any system that is developed and implemented there will always be a % which will see a method to gain some advantage. Every system has a loophole which can be manipulated. Every reward system holds its flaws. The only method to control this abuse is to track each reward and have it only redeemable by the identity it was issued to. This results in a two way trade only. and the token cannot be traded to third parties. This will not isolate the loopholes or abuse of the system. it will merely lead to other already established methods of gaming the system being used.

Just a thought.

There is definitely much to ponder here. Thanks for making us think!

To fill everyone in on this:

Numerous private messages have come my way, least via Discord, which surprised me, looks like Telegram is used a lot more by Steemians than what I imagined.

One of the questions I was asked though, in a DM on Discord was 'if I could push this through with the top20 witnesses?'

I openly answered "ME PERSONALLY. NO"

That was a direct answer with no beating around the bush. "N O"

Some may or may not understand things here, but the governance of Steem is decided upon via Witness Votes.

The 20 witnesses with the highest vote values (in SP/investment of voters) decide upon EVERYTHING.

They are the "Government".

As things stand, based upon everything seen to date, there is practically no way possible for any notion to be discussed, let alone passed, that is put forwards/made outside of the top20 and their circle of acquaintances.

Wanted to make sure that all readers are aware of this, so that there is no misconception out there about what I or anyone outside of the government here on Steem can do as far as "ideas" go.

Reality is what it is and I am not one to wrap things up or beat around the bush when it comes to facing reality or simply saying it as it is.

Hope that this helps prior to anyone contacting me on this topic via private messages.

Cheers.

It's good that you're thinking Jack but I'm just not seeing it. You want to change the name to Points instead of Dollars and make it non-tradeable on the exchanges to be used "internally" only?

The first part is just cosmetic, the second can't be enforced. The beauty of a blockchain is you can put any front end on it you like - including an "exchange".

If it is not a crypto token, it can't be listed or traded as such.

Submitting a request on Bittrex requires all of the following info:

– Your coin name: self-explanatory.

– Enhanced Verified Account: a team member or shareholder holding more than 10% of the company, must have their identity verified on Bittrex. As with Poloniex, this saves the team time vetting.

– Description of your coin: What makes your currency different than the hundreds of others floating around? The Bittrex website warns “If your ANN thread only has coin specs on it, you are not going to get listed on Bittrex.” Have a clear mission and pitch.

– Coin Trading symbol: a 3-5 letter ticker that will represent your coin forever. No numbers allowed.

– A coin logo: Must be submitted in PNG format with a transparent background. Bitcoin’s orange tilted B is ubiquitous worldwide. You should have a slick-looking logo.

-A launch date: if your coin will or already ran an ICO.

-Github link: Bittrex requires the source code for their due diligence. They will not accept binary.

Additional questions required are: the max money supply, other exchanges you’re listed on, the official blockchain explorer, the TxFee, the results of a premine (if there was one), how money was raised, and links to your company’s social media.

ETH tokens require a few additional notes. If you’re launching a token through Ethereum and had the code on your smart contract reviewed, Bittrex wants to see those results, as well as your smart contract address.

In addition to all that required info, Bittrex recommends (but doesn’t mandate) publicly disclosing your identity and having your coin source code checked by a trusted community member. If you launched the coin via ICO, Bittrex needs details about that as well. The premine info, how much was raised, the publicly accessible information at launch time, and so on. This all matters; Bittrex warns that a $5000 compliance fee may be charged if enough due diligence is necessary.

source: https://www.coinist.io/how-to-get-your-digital-token-listed-on-an-exchange/

...and what about Blocktrades or one of the other exchanges?

At the end of the day if it is recorded on the blockchain and can be transferred between STEEM wallets for "internal use" on steemit (or wherever) then it can be traded on an exchange. You can't prevent it.

Blackmarkets will always exist, "101" sales will always exist, that can't affect the code if it isn't in the whitepaper (our law or call it the constitution).

There are many "Loyalty points" out on the market, issued by various companies and people do use them in many creative ways.

i.e. Frquent Flyer miles points as one example.

Sure, a ticket can be bought for a friend etc. This doesn't alter the set value of the points when purchasing the ticket.

PS. I just woke up.

So let me fill this answer in here after a few sips of coffee.

People can trade anything they want, from Steem Monster cards all the way to kinky underwear.

If it isn't in the code, it doesn't affect the ecosystem, nor the value of those products/services as defined in the code, people can barter them or sell them, who cares.

Thank you so much for participating the Partiko Delegation Plan Round 1! We really appreciate your support! As part of the delegation benefits, we just gave you a 3.00% upvote! Together, let’s change the world!

This post has been included in today's SOS Daily News - a digest of all you need to know about the State of Steem.



Jack, I am definitely a fan of delving into this idea further. This could be a game changer.

I don't see "the real world" changing to adapt to crypto, so the other option is to adapt to the needs of the "fiat" (real) world so as to get crypto into every household!

& our ecosystem has the capacity to make that happen.

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