Imagine A Future Where...
Full disclaimer...This blog post is just me thinking out loud. And I'm not claiming to be the expert here because I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to blockchain tech. So if I say something that makes zero sense, please remember...I'm just a passionate user of the blockchain. I believe in STEEM and in the community.
A few days ago, I came across this tweet from @AdeTorrent . He was taking part in the amazing #Seven77 challenge and mentioned something that I can't stop thinking about...
At first, you say to yourself...Cool, companies paying their employees with upvotes. And you read that over a few times...
And then it hits you! Well at least...it hit me ;)
A startup company, gets involved with STEEM...Starts buying some Steem and powers it up. They have a healthy stash of this stuff and starts paying their employees with upvotes.
The question would be then,how much Steem would they need to power up...
This is when I started thinking (which isn't always a good thing...)
I took a peek around some of the largest holders of Steem Power which of course led me to Steemit Inc.
They currently hold over 33 million Steem Power which on the market today if it was powered down would be about 14.2 million dollars. That's a hefty chunk of change...But it's pocket money for some start ups with the funding they get.
But let's say in a perfect world 'Company X-Steem' gets that similar amount of Steem Power and now has some cool options...
The first option is they have a staff of around 10 people. With each employee hired for an average of $75,000 a year. Now I know that may seem like a lot to some, or disrespectful to others...I'm just trying to build an example here :)
Paying 10 people 75k a year would amount to 750k a year in salaries. Which is again, a sizeable amount of money...But what if this company starts paying their employees with upvotes. And saves 750k a year on salaries...
Hmmmmm.....75k a year would be around $200 a day. Or...In the chart above, a 25% upvote!
Do you see what I'm getting to here...
They could basically pay their entire work force while only using up about 5%-7% of their full 100% upvoting power....A DAY!
And let's all remember....That voting power is renewed daily as well...So they can upvote again...Maybe even hire out some contractors for free lance workers, hire more staff, whatever they need...All while not touching their profits.
They pay their entire staff with the rewards pool.
That's fine and dandy...But let's look at some other things they can do with their Steem Power.
Remember they have only used about 5-7% of their voting power by upvoting their staff, and they still have all that Steem Power to play with.
They could delegate!
'Company X-Steem' could literally become an angel investor on Steem and fund all the projects they want. They get rewarded from their delegation (depending on the project). All the while still keeping 100% of their profits for whatever business they may be in.
To me that is mind blowing and I'm still trying to figure out if it's too good to be true...lol
But here's a big one....Let's say they want to build a loyal community, look at that 1% vote...If I had that kind of Steem Power I would hire a curation team for the start up and get them to upvote 100 people a day. Still, only a fraction of your avalaible upvote...THAT GETS RENEWED EVERY 24 HOURS!!!! And that gets them over $8 in rewards...How LOYAL do your customers become?
Again...The things you can do with Steem Power especially on a business level blow my mind!
Is this the future that @AdeTorrent envisioned?
What are some draw backs from it?
I have spent the past few days discussing this idea in the @SteemSavvy live streams as well as our Discord community and @RichardTaylor was playing devil's advocate. His biggest concern was the fluctuations in the price of Steem.
Someone like me that has a 3-5 year game plan for this blockchain has ZERO problem with being paid in upvotes.
I receive Steem Power that gets vested plus the SBD that is liquid to pay the bills if I choose the 50/50 reward payout.
But for people not as obsessed with the blockchain...They still want fiat to pay the bills. I understand their reservations...
Another issue could be taxes, insurance and other fun things employers must pay. Which may not be the easiest to go through in 2019, but I do believe accountants are getting more in tune to the blockchain and it's business potential.
But what am I missing?
Is there something I have not thought about? Is there things I'm overlooking?
I'd love to hear your feedback on this idea...
And if you also see the future that Ade mentioned earlier this week...And this future that I believe...Is coming soon!
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://plus1daily.com/imagine-a-future-where/
Yes, there's something very significant you are missing but I salute and applaud your thinking. Just so you know, this was precisely how Utopian was working and how we managed to build the EFTG project faster and below budget.
But the people you pay with upvotes need to buy food. And if the food market does not accept STEEM, it means they need to sell the steem for fiat.
That is a MAJOR problem. I have explained these mechanics in my "Steemland" posts under my main account, @sorin.cristescu.
If you have a MASSIVE "sell" pressure on steem (all 10 employees need to sell their steem to get fiat to pay rent and buy food) you need to BALANCE that with an equivalent BUY pressure or else the price of STEEM WILL go DOWN.
The key is to have a dynamic equilibrium between those buying steem and those selling steem.
To get people to buy steem you need:
For your idea to work, we need to work on increasing the demand for STEEM
You're right. However, in theory, the massive buy pressure of the company buying and powering up 33 million Steem should help with that.
But you've raised another issue in my head. We all HAVE to sell Steem eventually at some point. We're not going to HODL it to the grave I guess.
Selling per se is not a problem. The key is to have an equilibrium between the quantity of steem being sold and that being bought. Think of a bank: if everybody comes to ask for their money at the same time, the bank goes bankrupt. Steem is the same: if we all sell at the same time, the price plummets and confidence with it and selling begets selling and the whole "value convention" collapses.
So in a sense the key is "timing" - decreasing the "velocity" of STEEM (a term from monetary theory)
thanks for the feedback man. wow never knew that’s how utopian worked.
and yeah you are so right. people need to eat. and the local grocery stores aren’t accepting steem.
i would hope that this future could be a reality when steem becomes more attractive to the every day person. but i’d ask...what do we need first. more people using steem and acquiring it or businesses investing to bring those marketing minds over?
or both lol
Posted using Partiko iOS
Let me play the devil's advocate too. We have about 109 million liquid STEEM and roughly 307 million STEEM in all. A startup buying over 30 million STEEM is... almost impossible. We are simply not that liquid. Because that startup is not going to wait for months or maybe years to have their buy orders filled in, even if the price spikes.
The interesting part of such a move is that they won't need 30 million STEEM if the price spikes.
And Sorin's arguments are valid. There needs to be a constant balance between the buyers and sellers, otherwise it will be an initial huge spike, afterwards sellers will dominate.
By the way, seems politicians see potential in the Steem blockchain even before startups (are you kidding me, free money, what's not to like??):
https://steemit.com/eftg/@pstaiano/the-european-financial-transparency-gateway-eftg-pilot-project
Your idea is great, and should be possible when we have more balance in the market, but that's why we need to see it from both sides!
lol oh you knew the politicians would salivate at the opportunity here lol
yeah the numbers aren’t there yet for sure. but the frame work i believe is there for companies to look at this option for paying salaries.
maybe not 30 million steem. but i know i’d work for upvotes lol
Yup, the model already works for Utopian.io, as Sorin mentioned, but I think they want to add a new dimension to their rewards with the upgrade they are working on. We'll see.
I would rather want to see a start up or a bigger company create their own SMT, and partially pay their willing employees with that. But we're still waiting for SMTs first...
Posted using Partiko Android
steem engine is pretty brilliant. and those SAVVY tokens are flying off the shelves!!!
not really lol but yet at least.
Posted using Partiko iOS
Yes it is, but it's not a replacement for SMTs. There is no reward pool, no delegation etc. to allow the creation of an entire ecosystem.
Posted using Partiko Android
you think smt’s are ever coming? i mean...they are rarely mentioned these days from the powers that be?
Posted using Partiko iOS
I like the idea, but I'm also didn't think about the flag issue when I first heard about it on your live stream... Still, I think that it is very good idea and it only needs few small adjustments through time... (flag issue, taxes, etc.)
The path is there, now we just have to pave it...
Keep up the good work Jon!
yeah that’s my thinking too. it’s right there. the potential could be massive.
the flags and taxes. i think could be worked around. maybe. who knows lol just thinking out loud.
Posted using Partiko iOS
Shiiit I must do my pushups :D
Posted using Partiko Android
ha ha ha ha good to hear that you didn’t forget lol
Posted using Partiko iOS
WOW you really fleshed out the idea here!
The down side of the value of Steem plummeting is the only real drawback I can think of.
Taxes? well, hopefully in that future, the government will also accept taxes in crypto.. so the IRS can set up an account on Steem and we can transfer Steem to them as tax. OR, it could be more automatic like VAT is right now.. so, for example 0.01% of every reward payout goes to @greedyGovernmentOverlordAccount
ha ha ha ha that’s an account i can’t wait to follow lol
yeah man. i saw your tweet and haven’t be able to stop talking about it. fascinating to me the potential and if it’s attractive to businesses
Posted using Partiko iOS
New future predictor of crypto expert mr.jongolson is coming on the way to STEEM. 👍
Posted using Partiko Android
ha ha ha ha man. crypto and expert are the two words that no one would describe me with lolol
Posted using Partiko iOS
Great master plan I think every start should think about what they need just buy huge amount of steem and power up and just upvote. Really what a master plan. What we need that steem should give a Fiat option directly in the wallet so employees can relax from price fluctuations
Posted using Partiko iOS
once steem becomes usable to the everyday person we will see some big changes i believe.
Posted using Partiko iOS
This would work is you can use Steem and buy every day goods
that would be the ultimate goal i think of this blockchain
Posted using Partiko iOS
People have to understand that blockchain is the future and they have to change their perspective accordingly.
agreed. the more things like this idea are tested. i think we will see a change in attitude.
Posted using Partiko iOS
That is a lot to ponder. It has been a long time since I did the kind of financial math to wrap my head around such ideas. But exciting to think there is a new way to do things...
Posted using Partiko Android
oh i’m sure i messed up the math lol but yeah. i can’t stop thinking about it. and using that angle to attract investors and businesses to steem.
Posted using Partiko iOS
I know at least two places that pay for services with upvotes. I know a third that should have, but that's another story.
To my way of thinking, that makes me a contractor not an employee. That distinction means I am responsible for the taxes in the country that I live in.
In the US you aren't responsible until you turn your crypto into USD OR use them for something that would ordinarily take USD. Like if you found a place to rent that accepted Steem. Taxes would be paid quarterly as if you owned your own business. Really pretty ordinary.
In Arizona you can pay your state income tax with bitcoin...
urgh that’s my dream now. to get enough steem power to reward people for helping out. not gonna happen with a 50 cent upvote tho lol
working on it :)
yeah that’s some good points man. especially angled as an independent contractor
Posted using Partiko iOS