One of my initial suggestions to steem was to introduce optional advertising (to any user that wants to opt-in) to break the closed-loop economy with some new revenue stream.

Around two weeks ago I realized my suggestion was redundant, in that advertisers could simply use Steem Power to do their work. The closed-loop economy isn't as closed as I initially thought it was because advertisers can buy advertising power (steem power) instead of ad placements. And this power can be deployed in a multitude of ways.