Happy Hard Fork Day...again.
For those unaware, there is another hard fork taking place at 11 AM EDT. This is due to a problem that was found with the delegation after Hard Fork 21. We are dealing with software, so bugs are normal after an upgrade. Unfortunately, this bug requires another hard fork.
Keep your fingers crossed.
Lost in the news was an announcement about Steemit Inc partnering with Typerium. This was not something that was heavily covered and many are wondering what it means.
Last night I decided to read through their White Paper and, I must say, it is amazing.
Of course, the problem with that is most White Papers sound amazing. This is the point of them. Few take the time to put one out that is going to turn people off. The idea is to generate excitement, usually tied to a token sale.
So what does all this mean for Steem?
The short answer is I really do not know.
Obviously, partnerships are good. I subscribe to "more is better" since it will mean Steem is in front of more eyes.
The challenge I have with Typerium is I do not know how many eyes are on it.
It is a project that sounds good. To start, it is an application that some view as a "competitor" to Steem. From what I can see, this is not the case. Typerium is an application that does not have a product for download. The website has an announcement about the IOS version of the app being released soon.
Thus, when something has nothing to offer but an idea, I am not sure how that is viewed as a competitor.
Their main focus is, naturally, social media. It appears the focus of this team is a reputation system. There are two aspects to this. The first is the users. This is not much different than what other projects discussed.
Where they do stray a bit is in the idea of creating a reputation score for the vendors. Part of their platform is the establishment of a marketplace where people can sell their goods and services. Their intention is to create a reputation score for vendors that will be adopted by the likes of Amazon.
I have to say I like their optimism.
They are building on Ethereum, or were originally. It appears they are going to have to split things up and run on two blockchains.
Their social media application can run on top of Steem. This is a simple conversion and provides them with a lot more than they were getting with Ethereum. The biggest difference is the free transactions. Ultimately, this could be the first announcement we see regarding a company signing on as a SMT users. The timeline of their roll-out might coincide with the release of that protocol.
For the marketplace, they are using smart contracts, meaning they will either remain on Ethereum or have to implement something on Steem-Engine. Nothing I came across mentioned the later so I am going to conclude they will still use Ethereum on that end.
Like most things, there is potential. The challenge, at this point, is it appears to all be a road map. I did not check into the individuals behind this project so perhaps I am missing something on that end. I like when projects have big plans that excite people. However, what this brings to the table exactly is uncertain.
It is great to have another application/interface on Steem. If this is all it is, wonderful. None of us will argue with more choices and the possibility of exposure to more people. Also, if they are creating a kick-ass marketplace, having the ability to utilize STEEM, even if it needs conversion to the TYPE token, would be incredible. That is something that Steem is lacking at this moment.
However, if the marketplace is on Ethereum, I am not sure how that would work. They would essentially be running two tokens if they were using the SMT protocol for the social media activity.
The announcement by Typerium did contain this:
It means that Steemit users will be able to use Typerium’s slick and intuitive creative design software. Typerium supporters also have a lot to gain, because they will be able to publish content straight from the Typerium application to Steemit.
Again, this provides a sense of it being another interface.
Then we have this:
The platforms will stay separate, so neither project is sacrificing its vision. Instead, we are working together to improve the experiences of both projects, streamlining the flow between platforms to help creators gain new audiences, and making it easier for people to view the latest and greatest content.
“The team at Steemit is very excited to be working with Typerium. This strategic partnership will help to strengthen Steem, and our long term vision for steemit.com” said Elizabeth Powell – Steem, Managing Director.
https://reveal.typerium.io/news/typerium-steem-partnership/
There is a lot of talk about the partnership strengthening both parties which is a good thing. Obviously, the announcement is short on how that will happen.
Ultimately, this one provides little insight. Perhaps the Typerium team has a lot going for it and will provide Steem with something it has not seen yet. At this point, I do not see a lot of potential other than the fact that people will have another way to access Steem (which is a great thing in itself).
One other thought: Perhaps there is a collaboration aspect to this where resource, i.e. personnel, will be available to help each other. We know that many organizations, including Steemit Inc, are running on reduced staffs. This could be a way of leveraging the talent on both parties.
In the end, we will have to see what happens. A lot of partnership announcements end up being nothing anyway. Typerium has grand plans which is superb. Hopefully, the team there can pull off what they set out to do. In that regard, it would be of benefit to Steem.
In terms of announcements, I will admit that this one is vague enough to not get excited about. I found the one by 
Who knows, many 1%-2% of those wallet users will give Steem a look.
As I said, more eyes is better.
Enjoy the forking.
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