SMT Testnet Live: One Step Closer To Steem 2.0
The day finally arrived. We have the coding for the Smart Media Token protocol done and the testnet is up and running. Developers now can now work with the protocol to see what it offers while also looking for bugs.
This is going to be a rather extensive process since so much of Steem's base coding is going to be affected by this update.
We are seeing something revolutionary. Steem is going to be a completely different animal once this testing is completed and the protocol goes live on the mainnet. A great deal of what affected the system is no longer going to be relevant.
SMTs along with the Resource Credit Pool is about numbers. These two features are what is going to offer Steem the potential to onboard a massive amount of users. Instead, of Steem attracting a few people here and there, websites will bring Steem to their existing user base. Many sites have millions of monthly users. Steem will have the ability to start tapping into it.
The goal is to tokenize the web. A primary question is whether or not any website would reject this idea?
Steem is providing a turn key solution to any website owner/operator to enable the ability to monetize the site via tokenization while also adding the Proof-of-Brain concept. Those sites will have the flexibility to establish the parameters as they desire meaning they can cater to their audience.
Nevertheless, when handed a turnkey solution for very little money, who is going to say no?
As one who believes the Internet is going to embrace tokenization and it will happen over the next few years, this is a really big deal.
Ultimately, this is going to send the activity on Steem through the roof. When there are hundreds of different sites, with decent traffic, all transacting on Steem, we see an entirely new world. Instead of 35K accounts transacting, there will be 50 times that. Even someone who is dumping a token received for a comment on some website is still transacting.
While markets have their own mind when it comes to pricing, what we do know is this is going to create enormous demand on STEEM. This is the biggest shift that is going to take place.
To start, the Resource Credit Pool is what is enabling applications to get RC for their users to operate. This is part of the new coding and will go live in the same hard fork as SMTs. Resource Credits are tied to Steem Power. Thus, to provide enough RCs for all interested users, there needs to be enough people holding SP. This is going to provide incentive to existing users to power up but we also could see investors jump on this. Leasing out RC might become the next major investment vehicle we see on Steem.
Secondly, all SMT tokens are paired with STEEM. Here again, we have a point that I think most are overlooking. Steem-Engine did a great job providing token creation to projects on Steem. However, none of them are top 5,000 sites. In spite of that, according to @penguinpablo's weekly report, more than 500K STEEM is on that platform backing the peg (although someone posted yesterday it is over 1M) .
Can you imagine the amount of STEEM that is going to be required if there are even just a handful of Top 5000 websites that use the protocol to create tokens?
Liquidity is a vital component to all of this. We just got a major lesson in what happens when liquidity is not present with the Fed injected tens of billions overnight into the RePo market for banks. The difference here is we cannot create millions of STEEM overnight. Thus, liquid STEEM is necessary to keep the market flowing. That will have to come from somewhere.
The wealth that is going to be generated off this blockchain is going to be enormous. Picture the day when there are thousands of websites all distributing millions of tokens on a daily basis. Certainly, there will be many which do not have great monetary value although the "long tail" shows us that it all adds up.
I believe this is going to be a game that people want to get involved with. Cryptocurrency adoption is rather slow for a number of different reasons. To start, most out there require one to "buy" in. Since people are required to put up money, this is something they either they will not, or cannot, do. With this system, no money is required.
We also see that things are rather complicated. While this also applies to Steem, it is far simpler than most blockchains. The fact that the wallets uses names instead of a long string of characters is a major step.
Also, by entering via a known website, the learning curve is greatly reduced. The layout of said site is already familiar. Certainly there will be adaptions with the additional features but the curve will be minimal. The only other hang up is the key system which will take a bit of explaining. Fortunately, with this spreading, we could see hundreds of "how-to" videos popping up overnight.
Just search YouTube to see how many videos there are on setting up a Wordpress site.
We are literally witnessing a major evolution of Steem taking place right before our eyes. It was a long 2+ years yet we are finally seeing the finish line. The release of SMTs on the mainnet will radically alter the entire ecosystem. Instead of trying to get a few hundred active users, we are going to see thousands per day who are already active within their own "communities". This number, of course, could go much higher depending upon the clout of some of the sites that adopt the protocol.
There is one final point I want to make. What do you think this place will look like with 5M users?
Before you laugh, keep in mind that an application with 5M users on the Internet is still rather small. Think of the online games that top this in the first month. Yet here we are talking about an entire platform with that number. Even if this is reached, Steem will still be a small player across the online world.
And that is the grand potential I see from Steem 2.0.
It is going to be a completely different ecosystem.
Here is the complete announcement by Steemit Inc.
https://steempeak.com/smt/@steemitblog/smt-testnet-is-live
If you found this article informative, please give an upvote and resteem.
Ever since SteemInc started communicating more and executing on what they said they were going to do moving forward, my belief in Steem has only grown. I treat Steem, I don't worry about the money I can make, but just focus on the process...the rest will take care of itself.
I think that viewpoint is across the board.
Personally, I was encouraged when Steemit Inc laid off 70% of their staff. The negativity peaked then but, what I found encouraging, is how the community of developers stepped up (along with others). This showed that there was the talent here regardless of what Steemit Inc did.
The fact that they got their act a lot tighter in terms of communication and fulfillment of projects only compounded the push forward.
The next two years will be a lot different from the past two.
I tried to explain a little bit of what it means to tokenise a community in the livestream I did earlier (on @threespeak's beta live test). Outside of the very rarified halls of crypto geeks, very few people understand what is coming.
▶️ Watch on 3Speak
Very valid points to all this. You hit the nail on the head. Most people have no idea what is coming and the impact it will make. I often do compare it to the Internet and few of us were aware what was taking place in the early and mid 1990s. However, a decade later, we were all aware.
This is going to spread a great deal quicker because we are more technologically advanced than 25 years ago PLUS the monetization of content that is already being created is going to appeal to people.
The content is monetized, the only question is who is getting it. Right now, we know it is Google, Facebook, and whomever owns the platform. This is going to change and quickly I believe.
I like the term Steem 2.0 - You have ETH 2.0 with all that hype, EOS 2.0 just came out for testing. "2.0" seems to be all the rage. Steem 2.0 INC!
Yeah. I came to me when thinking about how powerful the next hard fork is going to be. It only makes sense to start promoting Steem 2.0....an upgraded version of Steem 1.0.
It is something that few will want to miss. 😁
When is next HF expected
The best guess is February-April time period.
It is going to depend upon how things go with the testnet and what issues arise. The expectation is to run the testnet for 90 days which would put us at the middle of January. We will see if that has to be extended and how long after that it will go live.
I would expect a minimum of 30-45 days after the testnet is totally complete before the hard fork does occur.
I think the price will fly up
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STEEM REVOLUTION - we are on the train - let the others catch up...
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