Resource Credits: Changing Times

We know that the last week+ was a bit rocky with the Hard Fork. This update changed many things on the Steem blockchain.

Before going any further, it seems many missed the point about the voting times. Any author curation votes placed before the 15 minutes mark are burned. It is as if they did not exist. Hence, make sure autovoters are set to at least 15 minutes and manual curation does not take place before that.

Also, the 30 minute mark is no longer important. The author reward share to that point was removed. Again, if you want, you can start posting at the 15 minute mark, the same as you did at 30 before.

That said, one of the most important aspects to the Hard Fork was the implementation of the Resource Credits. This shift caused a lot of confusion and even more anxiety. Over the past week, things are died down a bit on that front as things restored, somewhat, to normal.

One of the features of the RC is that accounts with enough could handle onboarding of users. The amount required is not small meaning that the larger accounts will be able to do this. When I say larger accounts, it will fall mostly to the applications.

With the Resource Credit system, users can claim accounts at a discount when the prices fall. This is kind of like a prepaid system. Each day RC restores at the same rate as VP. Thus, one can use 20% of the total RC and not run a deficit.

A couple of accounts already started to take advantage of this system. I listed a screen shot for both @steemhunt and @actfit. With SP roughly 1.7M and 150K, these accounts are able to claim a decent amount each day.

Here is what they acquired so far.

@steemhunt

@actifit

One thing @mcfarhat told me is that the prices are dropping. When this was first released, the cost of one account was 7 MM RC. The other day, when chatting with him, he stated the prices were bouncing between 4 MM-5 MM. This is a significant drop in the period of a week.

Nobody is sure where the RC levels end up. It is going to be a feeling out process over the next few weeks (or even months) before the Witnesses will reach a level that achieves most of what is needed. The goal is not to keep people from joining the blockchain and enjoying the features of it. However, with the cost of running the system, there are going to be limitations of what can be done. How this all pans out remains to be seen.

As time goes by, it will only make sense for people to support their favorite applications. When users are onboarded via an application, there is a greater likelihood of retention. Applications are a lot less generic than a platform that onboards for the ecosystem. In other words, those who are Hunters will be more apt to keep using @steemhunt if that is how they find the blockchain.

Another aspect to this is that people who sign up through any application have access to everything else in the STEEM ecosystem. This is an advantage over the siloed system. Under that, the goal is to keep people locked into one app. Facebook does all it can to not let people off Facebook. They do not like the idea of people switching from heir ecosystem and doing things on Google. They want to retain as much attention as possible.

Applications developers on the Steem blocckchain have the same desire of course. Yet, they should realize that people are going to bounce around here using many different applications. At the same time, the success of other apps actually enhances the first app developer's position since it should increase the value of the ecosystem (and STEEM itself at some point).

Resource Credits are going to allow entrepreneurs to build on here in a professional manner. What I mean by this is that the costs associated with activity will be known. This will help in terms of fundraising and start up costs. Under the bandwidth system that was in place before Hard Fork 20, the answer to the question how much does everything cost was "I don't know". Once things settle down, we will have an idea of what transactions, upvoting, and posting cost as well as content creation.

This is a major shift. If STEEM is going to be a big time currency, we need to have legitimate businesses that are built with some large funding. Those entities exist out there. However, it is my experience that VCs tend not to put money out without clear cut numbers on the pro forma statements.

For the time being, the creators of applications, both entrepreneurs and developers, are still the most important ones on the blockchain. I am an individual that will not attract thousands of people here, or even hundreds, even if I post for the next 20 years. Yet one application could draw in millions if it takes off.

Resource Credits will end up settling down to a point where they benefit the users on here. For the time being, I sense the focus was upon the developers and giving them an idea of costs.

We are so early in this process, I cannot stress the importance of patience. This blockchain, actually the entire industry, is just getting started. It might be best to look at it that way. Trying to compare it to something that was around for 10-15 is an unfair parallel. It will only lead to frustration and, possible, exit.

And personally, I do not think that exiting the Steem blockchain is in anyone's best interest.

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