Many might not agree with this viewpoint and that is fine.
I spend a great deal of time monitoring what is taking place on the Steem blockchain and I can tell you the growth is astounding. Steem is one of the stronger blockchains based upon my comparison to what is out there. I will grant you that I am not aware of every blockchain but in looking at the major ones, Steem more than holds its own.
This is something we can expect to continue. The push forward is coming from so many directions that exponential progress is being realize. This is an aspect of technology, especially open source, that is leveraged by system.
We should always be looking to make improvements where we can. While this is a fact of technological evolution, we need to remember that Steem is strong as it is. Be mindful of creating New Coke.
So what makes Steem stand up?
MIRA
We are only a few weeks from this being implemented. This is a serious move to the upside. We are going to see the size of the nodes reduced to a level that could make it as low as $20 a month to run one. This means we can see major decentralization happen very quickly. Almost every application will have the ability to run its own node.
We also see the same thing happening with the Witness nodes. Presently, there are 130-150 Witness nodes running. Could this number jump to 350 or 500? I would think it rather easy.
The all equates into one of the most decentralized systems out there.
Token Distribution
This might seem like an odd one to add to the list but it fits. Many complain about Steem's distribution of tokens and how it sucks. The challenge with that is that it mirrors what is out there with most of the other major blockchains. Thus, Steem is not behind any of the others.
What makes this situation an asset is that each week, the distribution is changing. People are not having to buy STEEM to alter the token layout. It is built into the system through the reward pool. Thousands of accounts are amassing more SP each week which is taking the power, albeit slowly, away from the largest accounts. While this might not impress some, consider how that will work with Bitcoin. Other than mining it, how are people going to get Bitcoin? Only by getting what was previously distributed.
On Steem, the SP that appears in each person's account through the reward pool is newly minted STEEM.
Inflation Rate
Here again, this might seem like an odd one. The fact of the matter is that Steem's inflation rate is an advantage.
While some complain it is too high and could be scaring away investors, I do not buy into this one bit. If Steem was a household name, people would be investing in it regardless of the inflation rate.
So why is the inflation rate a good thing? Because it is how the distribution is altered. The newly minted STEEM is from the inflation. Presently, we are seeing 8.5% new tokens a year. This is divided up among a number of interested parties. One of the biggest winners is the content creators who take 75% of the reward pool with curators getting another 25%.
The talk of the inflation rate being reduced is catastrophic. This would reduce the ecosystem's ability to incentivize people to create and curate content. It would also protect the present distribution, further slowing the spreading out of the holdings.
Ease of Development
From what I understand, Steem is one of the easier blockchains to develop on. The learning curve for newer people is minimal. This is not the case with some of the other blockchains.
At the same time, one can develop on Steem for nothing (outside own personal development costs). This is something that is not seem everywhere else. For example, EOS requires developers to have RAM. While you could say that applications require RC to operate, the truth is that the users do. There is nothing that forces applications to have their own. Naturally, they will want to but that is their choice.
And as the ecosystem grows with more people having SP in their wallets, the need for applications to feed this lessens. While it will take a lot of time before they are to the point where they can entirely forgo it, each new account with SP in it is another potential user for each new application.
Designed By Dan Larimer
While it seems that Steem is ostracized from the Bitshares-Steem-EOS trifecta, the baseline fact is Dan did develop all three blockchains. This means the code is similar that was used. We are hearing about some major innovations coming out of him and EOS. This is only to Steem's benefit. Some of those ideas could be implemented rather easily by grabbing the code and making a few adjustments.
Once again we see the value of open source code. It is also something the Bitcoin network will have a tough time utilizing. While not everything developed will be able to be implemented at the base layer, we have enough developers that could use them as layer 2 solutions.
Community
This is usually mentioned although I am not sure people realize how strong it is. The truth is Steem-based applications are regularly scoring high marks on the DApp ranking sites. There is a lot of development taking place with regular updates. Plus, we have tens of thousands of users on here daily. While that does not sound like much, we see it surpassing many of the better known blockchains.
Ethereum gets a lot of credit for all their developers and is seen as the leader of the applications. The only problem is, based upon their total number of transactions, nobody is using them. In fact, with the 
Steem is unknown
This is really going to get the backs of some up but this is another advantage. The fact that Steem is unknown allows for things to be worked out before the masses arrive. We have a massive onboarding problem right now that requires attention. Some want to start campaigns to either get a ton of users or get the price of STEEM up. Either way, the added attention will just backfire. With only a few hundred people getting approved a day, thousands arriving will only create frustration. People talk about retention rate. That would send the number down even lower since most would have forgotten about Steem by the time they get their approval.
Some will say it needs to fall to the applications. That is true but they need time to claim the accounts. There is a limit to what can be claimed and getting a dozen or so a day does not allow for rapid growth. Many of the applications, along with individuals, are regularly claiming accounts to grow their holding.
There is nothing worse than putting out a faulty product to the masses that is rejected. I used the example of New Coke because that was hyped through the roof. When it came out, it was a total bomb and was pulled from the shelves in a rather short period of time.
Steem is very strong at the moment. We need to have the long-term view and be patient. While there are things we can all do to make this place better and, thus, grow faster, the truth is development needs to play out. If one looks back over the last year, you can see the major progress since Memorial Day 2018. Heck, we make major strides since the first of the year.
Keeping things in perspective is vital. The over-the-top negativity about Steem is unwarranted.
Steem is a very strong ecosystem with a foundation that is about to get a lot stronger.
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