Hey Midlet,

I actually thought about this on my walk today, specifically about SMTs.

I just launched $EXPOP on ETH, as an ERC-20 token.

$EXPOP has:

• A marketplace - Opensea.
• a Speculative Vehicle - Uniswap.
• A bounty / challenge assignment tool with reputation mechanism - Colony.
• A Guild Bank - Colony.
• A Weighted Governance Tool - Snapshot.
• A Central Hub for token distribution and outreach - Tryroll

I'm using Tryroll to distribute and onboard people from Patreon and Kickstarter into the system. [Fiat to ETH Onboarding via metamask seed distribution, with pre-funded wallets.]

The Governance, the solutions are off-chain, meaning that it doesn't cost ETH for gas to make each vote happen, which means the base utility for each ERC-20, as a governance token is totally free to use for newly onboarded people.

And in addition to that, this ecosystem is already mature with collectors, and established technology, and uniswap speculators, etc. etc. etc.

.:.

If I understand correctly, the push for SMTs, is basically just another attempt to do what ETH has already done.

The technology of HIVE, in terms of the transaction costs, and scalability might be superior to ETH in its current form, but ETH 2.0 is en route, and ETH price is backed by speculators as the second most influential blockchain in the whole cryptocurrency ecosystem.

.:.

I don't think competing with ETH Tools is a good strategy, or if it is a strategy, that's fine, but I still think the fundamental change needs to be a cultural one.

The main question I would encourage you to consider -- is how can your community members build a business plan that is just as brilliant or impressive as your own.

The use for SMTs is wonderful, if you have people who want to use them.

My criticism or concern, is that I see most people using HIVE, as basically caught in the game of -- make posts and get rewards for yourself.

That's not how the ecosystem is going to grow.

Your idea is actually dependent on advertisement revenue == which is still directed toward a limited group of people -- who would integrate advertisement into their business plans.

Who do you think would pay for that advertisement, and successfully derive enough money to make it worth their while to pay again?

What do you think onchainart artists want to buy that they would click and then go through and convert to sell?

.:.

If I was posting on Onchain art, my whole purpose is to try and make something compelling to get reward pool funds, or if I'm holding and trying to maximize curation rewards, then I'm doing that.

The only other thing to do is to talk with people -- but the most interesting things that these people are doing is off-chain -- at least for the majority.

.:.

Julia, Crim, Aggroed, R0ndon, MSPWaves, ElGeko, Stellabelle, Kommie, Midlet.

Of those people:

Julia, Elgeko - Alien HIVE
Crim R0n - MSP Waves
Stellabelle / elgeko - Marketing
Midlet - Onchainart
Kommie - vlog / interview and photography and comics.

There are many others who are doing interesting things that are centered elsewhere.

I'm not even using the platform in the way that I'm advocating.

.:.

Basically, I still think the basic cultural shift needs to be, "This is my cool thing, and I'm centering it on HIVE."

You've got a plan for how to do that with onchain art, and derive a profit for yourself, while building a community of reward pool consumers / aritst who post, and sell in a marketplace -- "to whom?"

.:.

HIVE growth is linked to business plans that derive a central value from HIVE BLog, // free community formation // Free Burns and Transfers of NFTShowroom NFTs // Quick Transactions, and the reward pool mechanics.

But the reward pool is meant to incentivize engagement, not be a source of income for artists.

The artists who are in onchain art, need to find a way to use the reward pool to incentivize engagement for "thier" followers, which means they need to have followers who aren't other people on HIVE -- circle jerking reward pool distribution.

It means building a business plan, and sourcing income from USD and ETH, but using HIVE's unique value for what it offers.

ETH doesn't have an inflationary reward pool distributed through stake based upvotes to incentivize blog participation / engagement.

.:.

I don't see a radically successful future in HIVE, unless people use it as a toolset, "powered by HIVE", instead of a honeypot.

People need to innovate and develop and lead projects, and monetize those projects and source their people from elsewhere, and then integrate them into HIVE as a central component of their business strategy.

HIVE as it is currently, is more of a philanthropic distribution toward third world economies, and artist / musicians / bloggers, who see the reward pool as the end, in and of itself.

This economic structure puts a huge amount of sell pressure on the market, and deters speculators.

So, without staking internally, and without hype based speculators, you have an inflationary currency, slowly being sucked to death, while looking for salvation from developers -- who are just trying to replicate a system that already exists, and has a stronger market position.

HIVE needs a cultural shift, from extracting value, toward creating value, and instilling value -- and it needs to be not just the leaders of the communities that are currently here, but the constituants of those communities, need to be creating and staking value, rather than simply extracting value.

Chatty Chatty Chat Chat.

This is why I removed my money from the ecosystem, because I think ETH has more people who are interested in building value / projects and audiences.

HIVE has more people who see the reward pool as an end, in and of itself, which I don't see as a compelling business strategy -- because the people who are here are in fact, not consumers.

They are creators, and curators, who are acting like consumers.

Such are my opinions.