A Chat With 
SM: Why are you powering up? And what is your opinion on the current situation of Steem and steemit?
I am powering up because I think Steem is very undervalued considering the tech, current development and future use cases.
I think most alt coins will fail but Steem is not one of them because it offers something unique that other blockchain don’t specialize in and it has a solid community behind who wants it to succeed.
I only invested recently (thank god) because I had a lot of interrogation about the viability of this project. Which have now been answered.
I am ranting a lot on the forum because I want the issues to be fixed quickly but I have to say as an investors I am pretty pleased about the pace of development. I don’t always agree with every feature and the way they are deployed but overall I see a team wanting to improve the system and that’s what matters most.
I am not really worried about the price or stagnant userbase, because to me Steem is not ready for mainstream adoption.
There are some issues regarding power concentration and complexity in the system that will have to be addressed.
The ongoing experiment is a blessing, it addresses the 2 major issues on steem which are power concentration and scalability.
It also makes the site more fun, users more engaged and most importantly it finally gives steem power a real purpose. Blockchains are valuable because they empower people. Every blockchains trying to reproduce existing centralised system is going to be worthless because centralised system don’t need blockchains. Steem was doing just that prior to the experiment and it would have died a slow death if something hadn’t been done to give power back to the people.
If the price goes lower I‘ll just buy more, at these prices the risks are very low, it’s actually a bargain.
Regarding slow UI development, I don’t really mind because to me it’s useless to have a sexy UI if the incentives are not aligned with community, so I’m fine with steemit 90’s UI for now. But I think the design is very important, it’s same as clothing, it gives a general feel to the site. Current design looks very cheap
If Steem was only steemit I’m not sure I’d have invested because the blogging model is a bit outdated, but the fact that steem could be used for many different type of site makes it a lot less risky as an investment.
This is why I would like to see steem being a solid base where every post is treated the same, I would like the blockchain to be standardized, simple and polyvalent.
SM: Steem price is rising rapidly? Whats happening? Your take on the reasons why?
I think there are several reasons but take them with a grain of salt as I am not in any way an expert on these things:
The recent freezing of Bitcoin withdrawals on foreign exchanges have lead to people looking for alternative means of making money - i.e. altcoins that they wouldn't previously look at.
We have a bull market and markets run on sentiments - it is a feedback loop. This is feeding into alts most of all - people see a greater potential to make money there - including with Steem.
Some people are getting tired of the problems with large bitcoin fees and the long block times and are looking for alternatives - I have a few friends who are absolute bitcoin maximalists and would never admit this on the record but they have expressed these views in private. The recent price rises are making them rethink the idea that "Bitcoin is the only game in town". There is also growing fatigue with the infighting between the two main camps.
The whale voting "experiment" - controversial as it is may have piqued some outside interest. The votes of many people are now worth a lot more. It is controversial and I certainly sympathise with those who are against flags but I believe it has demonstrated that empowering people could be a powerful tool to increase engagement. I'm speaking anecdotally here though. I would need figures to be sure and could be completely off the mark here.
A lot of interesting events happened this week. And in case you missed them, we’ve got your back. Here are some of the most important events that happened on Steemit this week.
~Steeemit co-founder,
Larimer tenders resignation letter to Steemit Inc
Steem makes a massive gain from last week's position in the last few days to 12th on the coinmarketcap.com’s crypto
market capitalization list.
For a comprehensive list of dedicated Steem blockchain apps. Check out SteemTools.com
Meanwhile, SBD rates ranged from 1 SD = $ 0.93 - 1.19 this week
~$0.069 and $0.32 were the lowest and highest value traded this week for a unit of Steem respectively.
Check out -> Page 1
P.S What is your take on the rapid steem gains over the weekend? Are there new features you would like to see on SteemMag? Your thoughts about the various issues on Steem currently? HF 17? No Whales Experiment?
I would love to hear from you