This is the last part of a series as to why I believe we are going to see an explosion in STEEM due to a convergence of many variables all aligning up properly.
Major technological innovations do not happen in a vacuum. Instead, they are the result of years of research in many different fields which all came together at one time. It is almost as if everything magically lined up at that moment in history. Often, some will attribute it to luck but it is far from it. This convergence of breakthroughs is what makes revolutionary ideas happen in technology.
Thank you to all who read this series on why I believe we are at the start of a major explosion in the steem blockchain.
In my view, everything is starting to line up. By the end of the first quarter, we should see some major developments which will provide people with a much different perspective than most have now. It is difficult for many to see the future because we tend to get locked in to what we know. However, if one trains him or herself to be able to set some of the "realities" aside and project using exponential models, it becomes clearer where things are going.
The final aspect that I believe is really impacting STEEM is the community we have here. The people on this site, for the most part, are wonderful. The 25K daily users are a dedicated bunch determined to make a difference. The steem blockchain, to me, is about freedom. Cryptocurrency is freedom from the tyranny of the fiat money supply that the bankster system has enslaved us with. The apps on here enable one to post without fear of censorship or adhering to a certain agenda. Freedom from ads, malware, and the monitoring of Facebook, Reddit, and other sites is refreshing.
Overall, we have a wonderful community of whales on this site. Many are determined to push the steem blockchain to the forefront of the social media realm. Often people attack the whales for being selfish and self-absorbed. While there are a few who certainly are like that, I found most to be doing all they can for this site and blockchain. In fact, while there is some differing of opinions in terms of approach, nobody can question the desire of these people. These have the same wishes as us, to see STEEM take off and this blockchain become the de facto place for all social media content.
The foundation is in place. Over the past year and a half, the development teams and many of the whales on here struggled, worked, and put forth enormous effort to overcome many challenges. The story of STEEM, up to this point, is not a smooth one. From what I understand, there were a number of challenges which could have sunk this ship before it left port. Nevertheless, here we are today about to embark upon a new calendar year. This tends to bring optimism as we put the old one behind us. For me, as you all know, I do not need January to be approaching to get optimistic about STEEM. This started before the baseball season ended and only has grown.
To recap the factors that are all converging which will make STEEM take off:
The advancement of cryptocurrencies in general over the last 9 years: there were some successes and a host of failures, failures that led to knowledge causing developers to approach things differently.
People are fed up with government: Even governments are fed up with each other as evidenced by Venezuela and Russia discussing a currency together to break the USD stranglehold on them. Even governments are tired of the tyranny of fiat currency.
Wall Street is here: $140B increase in crypto market cap can be only be done by the money-raising power of the Street. They love a good story which means the "next Facebook" really excites them.
Rich and Poor alike can acquire STEEM: Wall Street can buy whatever it wants but the average person does not have that advantage. STEEM offers people the opportunity to get involved without any money. In fact, steemit pays people a small amount of STEEM to get started.
People realize they are not only being monitored online but the data collected is being used to profile individuals. This information is used to influence behavior by being sold to advertisers. Also, people realize that news is not news but propaganda given by those with an agenda.
Censorship: Your account can disappear from Facebook and Youtube if you are not toeing what they deem acceptable. People are getting fed up with having their voices censored.
The steem blockchain is does more to secure its tokens, natively, than any other chain. This feature extends to any organization joining whether they are using STEEM or their own token. Token security has always been an issue and steem jumped to the head of the line in that area.
Steem is one of the fastest blockchains in existence. Unlike bitcoin and ethereum which are suffering from tremendous traffic congestion, steem is plugging along using under 2 minutes of its total capacity a day. Steem simply is a better mousetrap.
The Apps are getting close to being ready to offer viable solutions to the traditional social media choices: DTube, Zappl, and Steepshot all offer minor learning curves and can draw millions of people over very quickly.
Communities: Steemit will move into the Facebook realm when the communities aspect is introduced. This feature will enable people to bring their family and friends over as a group while offering a place to interact.
The increase in rewards listed on Steemit is going to garner a ton of attention as the price of STEEM heads higher. While the reward pool is fixed in the number of STEEM and SBDs paid, it will move up in terms of dollars as the price of STEEM heads higher. Do not be surprised to see the dollar amounts doubling in the first quarter.
Smart Media Tokens: This is the Golden Goose. Having a built in, turn key system for content creators who want to offer the curation reward system to monetize their site is what separates the steem blockchain from any other. This protocol has the ability to design tokens for sites which can instantly bring millions of people to this blockchain. As STEEM holders, we profit since all activity requires STEEM for bandwidth.
As a technologist I had to train myself, when looking at things, to not think linear. This is how the human mind typically works. Technology is a bit different in that it advances exponentially. What is known as the technological S Curve describes the path new technologies go through and where we are right now.
After 18 months, we are still in the innovator phase. With roughly 450,000 people exposed to this, we are less than 2.5% of where this blockchain will ultimately end up. The creation of a few token via the Smart Media Token protocol will take us from innovator to early adopter. That is when things will really start to take off. Notice on the chart how we are located at the bottom of the long upward path. This is a period when remarkable growth is realized. Fortunately, this process takes years to complete.
We are still in the beta stage. This is a common denominator in the innovator phase. Technical glitches are worked on and ironed out. What occurred here since I joined is not uncommon from a technological standpoint. People were losing their heads without realizing this is normal. Version 1.0 is never any good. It is always a test run to get real-time feedback so that the coders and developers can determine what to upgrade. Each upgrade gets them closer to a working model that can be scaled up.
Timeline are always difficult but my read is that by St. Patrick's Day things should be hopping. DTube and Zappl should be firing on all cylinders. Hopefully Steemit will have communities going. We should have clarity on when ICOs will start with the SMT protocol.
Overall, it is going to be a very happy new year from all who are seriously involved with STEEM.
Thank you for reading my friends.
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