Where to Buy
STEEM is being sold on the BitShares platform via Open Ledger.
Why STEEM?
Steem is an aphetic form of esteem which means to set a high value on or to prize. In the 14th-16th century it meant value. Steem is also a homophone for steam which is frequently associated with power. It only seemed right for a cryptocurrency to be associated with value and power.
Terms and Definitions
Steem refers to the blockchain, while STEEM is a currency symbol.
The Steem blockchain has two currencies: STEEM and SBD (STEEM Convertible Dollars).
Steemit.com is a website owned and operated by Steemit, Inc which is an independent entity building upon the Steem blockchain.
Product Description
STEEM is a digital token that can be vested to grant its owner voting power and the ability to transact on the Steem network. Voting power controls what content gets promoted to the main page of steemit.com and how STEEM is allocated to others. New STEEM is created to reward miners, posters, long-term holders, and liquidity providers at approximately 113% APR. STEEM may also be created to redeem STEEM Backed Dollars.
Users who commit their STEEM to a 1 year vesting schedule are generally protected from the dilution of STEEM.
The software that powers the Steem network is released under a modified BSD license.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
The purchase of STEEM creates no ongoing obligation between the Steemit,Inc and the Buyer. Steemit, Inc cannot guarantee that STEEM will have any resale value. Steemit, Inc cannot recommend buying STEEM for investment purposes.
STEEM Allocation
STEEM is being distributed with the goal of building a large community of active users while raising funding to perform ongoing development. We know that user acquisition is the single biggest cost in building a social media platform; therefore, up to half of all STEEM mined by Steemit, Inc is being given to new users and the users who referred them.
STEEM was publicly announced on bitcointalk.org along with the code. The Bitcointalk community had a couple of days to experiment with an earlier release and get familiar with the code. Steemit relaunched Steem giving people some time to pull the latest code and start their miners before any STEEM was allocated. Over two-dozen different individuals were mining within the first hours of launch.
Steemit, Inc mined about 60% of the available STEEM the first day and then continued to mine until it had mined over 80% of all available STEEM the first week. This representes over 320,000 STEEM mined by Steemit, Inc. Steemit then transferred 53,000 STEEM to 6 founders as VESTS. VESTS is STEEM that has been locked up for an average of 1 year, it can only be converted back to STEEM via 104 equal weekly payments. Steemit then converted its remaining STEEM into VESTS. One week after launch less than 20% of STEEM (80,0000 STEEM) was liquid and almost all of it held by anonymous miners.
After the first week, holders of VESTS are no longer diluted when miners are rewarded. For every 1 STEEM awarded to a miner, 9 STEEM are distributed proportionally among holders of VESTS. All users have the ability to convert STEEM to VESTS to avoid dilution. This means new STEEM is created at a rate of 400 STEEM per minute, but 90% of it is illiquid.
30 days after launch the miner selection algorithm changes. 19/21 miners are selected by approval voting of VESTS holders. Steemit, Inc used its majority voting stake to select 19 independent miners from around the world to produce blocks. 1/21 block producers continue to be selected via mining and 1/21 is time shared among everyone who didn’t make it to the top 19 by approval voting. The block rewards are also automatically converted to VESTS from this point forward.
Steemit, Inc will withdraw its STEEM from VESTS at the maximum allowed rate about 1% per week until Steemit, Inc holds less than 25% of total VESTS. Half of the STEEM received will be given to new users who signup at steemit.com. New users will receive VESTS. The other half will be transferred to an exchange and sold, the profits from this sale will be used by Steemit, Inc to grow its business.
On July 4th approximately 5,000,000 STEEM will be distributed to the best content producers and currators. Half of this STEEM will be paid as VESTS and half will be paid as STEEM Dollars.
Steem continuously allocates new STEEM to those who bring value to the network. These rates are based upon the virtual STEEM supply. The virtual STEEM supply is the amount of STEEM that would exist if all SBD were to be converted to STEEM at the current feed price. SBD interest is an exception, its APR is relative to the total SBD in circulation rather than virtual STEEM.
Reason Creation Rate Payout Form
Posts 5% APR 50% SBD / 50% Vesting STEEM
Votes 5% APR Vesting STEEM
Miners 1% APR Vesting STEEM
Liquidity 1% APR STEEM
Vesting 90% APR Vesting STEEM
Interest 10% APR (of SBD) SBD
All numbers above are the minimum distribution. Until the rate above is greater than the rate below, the rate below will be used.
Reason Creation Rate Payout Form
Posts 1 STEEM per Block 50% SBD / 50% Vesting STEEM
Votes 1 STEEM per Block Vesting STEEM
Miners 1 STEEM per Block Vesting STEEM
Liquidity 1200 STEEM per 1200 blocks STEEM
Vesting 36 STEEM per Block Vesting STEEM
Disclaimers
The proceeds of the sale are property of Steemit, Inc and constitute income from the sale of a digital product. Purchase of STEEM does not create any future obligations between Steemit, Inc and the buyer.
STEEM held by Steemit, Inc for the purpose of acquiring new users is the property of Steemit, Inc and may be used for any purpose without restriction.
Steemit, Inc cannot make any promises regarding the future value of STEEM, SBD, and VESTS.
Steemit, Inc cannot make any promises regarding actions we may or may not take that could influence the future value of STEEM, SBD, and VESTS.
Any statements made about our intentions to buy, sell, give, transfer, develop and/or maintain Steem should be interpreted as non-binding and subject to change without notice. Do not buy STEEM, SBD, or VESTS with the expecation that Steemit, Inc will or must do anything to give these tokens value.