When the Steemit team solves a problem, I guess they solve it in a big way.
While some other blockchains are trying to scale to a few thousands transactions per second, the Steemit team announced that the new system that was implemented will now allow for the scaling to a quadrillion accounts.
Considering there are a little over 7B people on the planet, I think this might be a bit of an exaggeration.
One of the biggest reasons for Hard Fork 20 was to provide scaling to the STEEM blockchain. The previous system placed a cap on the number of accounts created. This was fine during the early days since there were other issues to focus upon. However, with the creation of many new applications that are seeking to grow, this is no longer the case.
Under the old system, the number of accounts created were limited by the number of STEEM in circulation. According to the Steemit team, it was capped basically by the number of STEEM divided by the amount of STEEM spent to create an account.
This is no longer the case.
Now, because the rate of of subsidized account creation is determined by the witnesses, Steem can admit as many people into our community as we desire, as long as the witnesses agree that it is safe to do so.
I find it unlikely that the Witnesses will approve scaling up to a quadrillion users since that might invite some fake accounts or duplicates.
In all seriousness, this is good news. To start, the system appears to be stabilizing. Also, according to the latest post, it does appear the Steemit team and the Witnesses are working on a solution that enables newer accounts to operate on the blockchain while also opening the door up to spammers.
The bottom line is that it cost money to open an account AND for interaction to take place on the blockchain. This means that, no matter how you slice it, one needs to add more value to the ecosystem than that cost is. But how is that determined? That is the, well, quadrillions dollar question.
Also, how does one know who will add value? Again, there is no way to pre-determine that. Hence the difficulty we are facing. It is going to require some trial and error to find equilibrium (to use Steemit's term).
I am optimistic by the fact that we are moving towards an application-centric blockchain. By enabling sign ups through the applications, I would think both the retention and interaction rates will be higher. People who sign up to use an app that catches their eye, in my mind, are more apt to keep using it than one who signs onto a social media network that is confusing. Perhaps, over time, the individual will branch out to other apps on here.
Ensuring that low SP users can transact as much as possible is our #1 priority and we will continue to work with the witnesses to optimize the system to that end.
While we are certainly not satisfied with how the RC system rollout was executed, the vast majority of those with a technical understanding of the system agree that it is the best path forward for defending against both the short-term and long-term risks associated with having a freemium blockchain.
These two statements show the balancing act both the developers from Steemit and the Witnesses are trying to stage. I doubt anyone wants a completely open system where anyone can sign up and do whatever they want. While this might sound "fair" to some, would anyone like spam bots to take over? If you think the voting bots are a problem, open up the system to unlimited usage with no responsibility and see what happens. Some of the old BB forums learned that the hard way after scripts started appearing to spam the hell out of them.
With each passing day, I get more optimistic about this blockchain. We are still in the super early stages of this entire movement. It will take years for a lot of this stuff to unfold. The ultimate goal is to create decentralized, consensus entities. That is a complete reversal from what we are accustomed to as a society.
STEEM is one of the leading blockchains. Challenges keep arising. Fortunately, we have a lot of smart people around here to work them out and help us get passed them.
https://busy.org/@steemitblog/hf20-update-operations-stable
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