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Steem is...

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khal
@khaleelkazi
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5 min read

I just put out this Tweetstorm https://twitter.com/steemleo/status/1224486155908976641 about what Steem is. This post will add a few details to the Tweetstorm topics that I didn't include on Twitter.

Please head over to the Tweets and like & share them to spread some extra Steem awareness to the twitterverse 🦁

Steem is Fast:

Tx times are just 3 seconds on the Steem blockchain. For a blockchain like Steem, this is absolutely necessary. Tx doesn’t just refer to sending STEEM from one account to another. It refers to all the things that you can actually do with Steem:

  1. Upvote content you like
  2. Comment on posts
  3. Custom JSON operations
  4. Send/trade digital assets (i.e. @splinterlands)
  5. Create & distribute digital tokens (i.e. LEO & upcoming SMTs)

Steem is Freemium:

The resource credit system on Steem is more important than the vast majority of people realize. As more and more businesses, communities and users leverage the Steem blockchain, there needs to be a resource management system in place that is fast & adaptable.

On the other hand, we also need a gateway into the blockchain without having to pay for initial usage. If we want to have millions and millions of users for our technology, then we need it to be fast & free to sign up and do basic operations. We have this with free Steem accounts being created by several sources.

These Steem accounts are able to do a fair amount of transacting on a daily basis… when that user wants to scale up the number of operations they can do, they simply buy more STEEM and vest it into their account to create a larger resource credit pool from which they can draw upon. It’s a simple system, but one that works incredibly well. It’s freemium.

Steem is Secure:

Holding STEEM (and other digital assets) in a Steem account can have additional layers of security involved, when the wallet is used correctly. There are 2 primary options for this:

  1. Savings
  2. STEEM POWER vesting

Use the “savings” feature in the wallet to lock-up your assets (like STEEM). When you’re ready to sell them or move them to another wallet, just “unlock” them from your savings. The “unlocking period” is just 72 hours.

Alternatively (and more popularly), you can vest your STEEM as STEEM POWER in your account. This subjects the STEEM to a 13 week “unlocking period”, but gives you more power over the blockchain (i.e. voting on developer proposals, voting in witnesses, “mining a.k.a. curating" content in exchange for newly minted tokens, delegations, etc.).

Using either the savings feature or the STEEM POWER feature provides an additional layer of security to your account. What makes it even more secure is using an IOS app/discord bot like Steemify/ginabot to notify you of any changes in your account. If an “unlock” is started and you didn’t do it, then you know that your keys were compromised and you can change them before any funds are stolen.

Steem is Transparent:

Another overlooked feature of Steem is the transparency involved in application use. One of the use cases that Steemleo has been preaching in this regard is the use of Steem as a review system for products on something like the Leoshop (https://shop.steemleo.com). When a user reviews a product, you can look through their account and see their complete history.

Similarly, when you play a match on @splinterlands or decide to setup a trade or leasing agreement or what have you, it’s easy to just look through a particular user’s history on the blockchain and gain an understanding of what they have done in the past.

Steem is Scalable:

Steem is a highly scalable blockchain. It is far from full capacity and systems like the aforementioned resource credit allocation are already in place to handle great loads on the Steem blockchain database.

With recent upgrades to the network like MIRA, rocksDB and others, Steem has become even more scalable in the past year or so.

Steem is Based on Usernames:

Have you ever sent a BTC or ETH tx? The address that you sent to looks something like this 0xasnfuofh9thisistoolong121049812509. On Steem, if you want to send me something my address looks like this: @khaleelkazi.

Steem accounts are identified by usernames. Something that we are all familiar with from traditional social media sites. This is the way that a blockchain should be. Especially a blockchain that is aimed at usability and the everyday implementation of user-centric applications.

Steem is Easy to Build Applications On:

Want to build an app on Ethereum? Great. That is a fantastic blockchain platform. The problem is that it’s tough to get something built on Ethereum. It requires a lot more dev work, coding and other skills to make something valuable and practical on the ETH network.

Building on ETH versus building on Steem can be compared to building a website from scratch with raw code versus using a template on Wordpress. On Steem, you can build certain applications with literally a few clicks. Of course, you can really get into the meat of application development as well and build far more advanced applications from there.

The barrier to entry to build applications on Steem is super low and the potential value that you can create is super high.

Steem is Decentralized:

The word decentralized is thrown around a lot. Decentralized can thus be evaluated on a spectrum. Steem is one of the more decentralized blockchains out there, in my opinion. The 2 primary founders have no involvement and little-to-no involvement in Steem today.

The vast majority of application development is done by 3rd party devs, entrepreneurs and community-leaders. The core blockchain is developed by @steemit who have done well in recent months to take advantage of the community brainpower that makes Steem so awesome.

On top of all that, we have a number of witnesses who share a multitude of visions for the state of Steem and the future of Steem. The entire community is built on a platform of open communication and continual debate. What is often seen as “infighting” can also be looked at as constructively discussing the future of Steem and how to get there.

Steem is a robust database with a core set of users including a number of passionate developers, witnesses and blocktrapreneurs.

Steem is like an online family. We fight. We bicker. We debate ideas. We work together toward common goals. We look out for each other.

In the end, I see Steem as one of the most fundamentally capable blockchains out there with a core community that will stop at nothing to see the chain thrive in the future.

If you also care about Steem, please take a few seconds to like & share the Tweetstorm of this post found on https://twitter.com/steemleo/status/1224486155908976641 to spread some Steem awareness 🦁

Posted via Steemleo