Steemit runs on top of a decentralized network named Steem. Like Bitcoin, Steem is a blockchain with transferable tokens. In addition to moving tokens from one place to another, Steem is also a text content and metadata database that applications or websites can connect to.In May, Wale Ifemi was living on one dollar a day in West Africa. A month later, he joined Steemit, a new social-media platform that rewards users with its own cryptocurrency. The more "upvotes" – likes, essentially – a post gets, the more it earns. By August, he had made the equivalent of $41,000 – plus another $18,000 after posting his story about this transformation.
