Thanks for sharing a potential competitor! But unless I'm missing something, there is no mention of giving people the ability to launch their own token, let alone one with the properties we are referring to. It's still good to see the progress (or lack of progress) other teams are making with respect to doing what did 2 years ago. Of course, as the original commenter points out, the fact that no one else is building this is obviously not a good reason to do something. This is why this was not even considered when making the decision.

Our goal with SMTs is to fill a niche we know for a fact exists from dealing with entrepreneurs and developers from outside the community who shared why they were refraining from adopting Steem. Most reasonable people would conclude that the fact that the community has bought into the idea so completely supports the claim that it is the right path, though obviously nothing in this world is certain. But interpreting overwhelming support from the community as a bad thing is certainly an interesting approach. If anyone looks back at before SMTs were announced, you'll find hardly any mention of adding a token launching protocol. The fact that so many Steemians are excited about the protocol is clear evidence that it's just a good idea. Everybody loves the Beatles for a reason, some things are just obviously awesome :). Discounting the opinion of the user base, especially in a system that is designed around stake holding, is certainly one way to go, but not an approach we believe to be productive. But by all means, people are free to argue that the stakeholders should not pursue what they believe to be good ideas.

When making the decision to pursue SMTs we made our decision based on what everyone who matters wanted: entrepreneurs, developers, and existing Steem stakeholders (everyone with any amount of Steem Power). We then looked at the landscape and saw that no one else is doing this, and no one else is better suited to do this. So we decided to do it and then the community rallied behind the idea. That sounds like consensus to me.

I think a quote from billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel sums it up nicely: The perfect target market for a start-up is a small group of particular people concentrated together and served by few or no competitors. Once you create and dominate a niche market, then you should gradually expand into related and slightly broader markets.