Powering Up Cryptocurrencies on the Steem Blockchain
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdH6YgEMKc5hTNTbj2TL9jtqKN3mTj1gnEgJgcxjKvzgu/image.png)
What if any coins out there, like Bitcoin can be staked on the Steem blockchain, much like Steem Power? Doing so will enable anyone to tap into a parallel Bitcoin supply distribution running alongside Steem's activities. Now, extend this concept to any other cryptocurrencies out there. That said, there are both great benefits and problems that come along with this idea. Something I've been thinking about for the past couple of weeks without much of a good understanding of its technicalities and economics, so I'll just throw it out here.
Multicurrency wallets are on the rise.
There are plenty of cryptocurrency projects out there that have included multicurrency wallets into their roadmap. One big reason to do this is obviously to add up to any project's utilities and improving the chances of retaining their users. However, I personally think that most projects out there is failing to drive attention and frequent usage. With Steemit rising up the Alexa rankings, it is good sign that the Steem blockchain is ahead of the pack and it will make sense to consider developing a secure multicurrency wallet of some sort. The hope is, of course, to pivot such a wallet into being part of some decentralised exchange.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmRLeqt6x5g5Rxb417d8vffK8wLdsFf2EoMmh4aEKqYSvT/image.png)
But the problem here is this - decentralised exchanges these days are still lacking in volume and liquidity even for most of the top performing cryptocurrencies out there. This is, in my opinion, largely due to the platforms just being decentralised exchanges at their core. While some projects have plans to include various features like merchant POS and payment gateways, what's ultimately lacking is a social layer that drives mass adoption. I think it's the necessary ingredient to make decentralised exchanges successful, other than ease of use. You may check here to verify that none of the decentralised exchanges are even in the top 50 performing markets - https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/volume/24-hour/
So shooting for a decentralised exchange directly first might not be the best idea. I think the ability for anyone to deposit and power up their cryptocurrencies on the Steem blockchain may present a better case before any form of decentralised exchange becomes successful.
Power up your cryptos on the Steem blockchain.
No, please don't do this. Do not send any other coins to your Steem wallet! Just an idea at the moment. So what if we're able to deposite and stake any cryptos on the Steem blockchain and bestow them Steem-like qualities? Below I will describe some of the benefits and problems with the idea, so feel free to comment about them:-
Time-locking and staking any cryptocurrencies just like Steem to Steem Power provides security benefits from network exploits. At least anyone would have ample time to react before their funds get stolen. Problem: if it requires the Steem blockchain to create a derivative token, then this concept may not be possible.
If staking bestows any cryptocurrencies Steem-like features, then we can imagine that it could have its own pool of distribution that runs parallel along with Steem's. It's quite like the pooling of resources just like Steem, so this is conceivably only for those that have staked the same cryptocurrency. For a lack of technical know-how about this matter, I can only think that once a cryptocurrency is staked or powered up, the Steem blockchain creates another derivative token that's Steem-like, but associates itself to the originating cryptocurrency.
One of the major benefits from doing so is to be able to conveniently reward contributors in a social manner without the need for paying-to-play, just like Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work that requires participants to spend capital on computing resources. It's something that would otherwise be only reserved for any cryptocurrency's rigid distribution protocol. Granting them Steem-like abilities could enable further decentralisation, which is central to the heart of any cryptocurrencies that expect mass adoption.
Here's the problem: Steem blockchain's distribution is based on the ongoing emission or inflation of the protocol in order to provide new Steem tokens to contributors. This is rather unique only for the Steem blockchain when it comes to subjective proof-of-work, because no one is actually spending their Steem while voting on the network. So would non-Steem cryptocurrencies be subjected to such similar inflation-based reward pool allocation mechanism? It may or may not make any sense by having a market specifically for trading between the actual cryptocurrency, and the Steem-counterpart tokens that are created out of staking the originating cryptocurrencies. For example, once Bitcoin is powered up on the Steem blockchain, it will subscribe itself to a parallel pool - let's call this a Steemified Bitcoin with its own token (SBTC) which is also tradeable with actual Bitcoin. Still very unclear on what can be done, but I hope you get the idea.
Just Steemit
The Steem blockchain is a collaborative commons, so far only for the Steem asset. What happens if this notion is extended out to other cryptocurrencies? Maybe that'll be possible one day, since there are already several mentions of community tokens by @ned (check here) and @joseph (check here). All said, I'm looking forward to a future when I can tell people to "Just Steemit!" and they'll will know it's the place to be for posting, voting, and supercharging all of their other cryptos.
I may have totally misunderstood but won't this kind of make Steem worthless?
I think itll create more dependencies on steem which could be a good thing, which is one of the big reasons why Bitcoin is valuable today.
Something which would be easier to introduce new people to crypto would be good. Over time I think we will see more of this though. Universal wallets, decentralized exchanges, and PoS are all on the rise in the crypto world. Long term I think we will see more of a shift away from PoW to more PoS type systems. Steemit is unique in it's Steem Power. Though a lot of PoS have somewhat similar stuff. More of a crypto gives you more weight to stake on the network. Would like to see more platforms to better offer interaction between users and ease of use to new people in the crypto space.
I would add the ability to choose payouts in Steem Backed Bitcoin ;)
I like the way you think :D lol
Kevin, Excellent idea. While I am a former Tech, Steemit and Ecurrency environment is rather cumbersome for non Tech novices. A central wallet for all coins and powering up is a fantastic idea. Wondering if the EOS blockchain will the basis to get something like this done. Followed, upvoted and resteemed.
Plenty of possibilities. Yeah perhaps EOS will get it done since it's based and improved upon on Steem. Everything On Steem lol :P
going to wait for the next pull back on all Ecurrencies before I get into EOS. Besides, hard to buy something that does not exist yet.. But the old tech in me believes in the concept...
Some times as a tech novice I get more confused than I ever know. But I wont give up until I know how these things work ...lol
gloglo, take it easy dipping into this space. If you are American start with small amounts in Bitcoin, Etherium and Litcoin throught coinbase. User interface is easy and you can buy partial coins. Steemit just start buy creaating and posting content. Think about guy more steemit coins to get your reputation ratings higher and your pay outs even more.
So, this is some sort of derivative of other currencies that mean I get some sort of power in some other domain?
So like, I have 1 BTC, I'm not doing anything with it while I'm waiting for it to hit $50k so I lock it up in BTCPower and that lets me do what? Help me out here.
No worries, I'm also confused myself lol. The idea is to "share" other assets and have some parallel / concurrent distribution when people vote, something like that. See, most crypto projects out there don't have any convenient ways to reward their contributors in a social manner (other than through rigid cryptoeconomic incentives that their protocol provides for the purpose of distribution, and off-chain solutions that are not very immediate like voting on content on steem). I think its something that improves the notion of decentralisation, at least when it comes to supply distribution. In terms of having a derivate that grows in value over time, well that's another story.
Good Question
We already have a pretty good currency exchange just for SBD and Steem at the moment.
As steem begins to grow and draw in more users it would be pretty cool to see if we had a market trading many cryptos right here on steem with wallets that can take any currency.
One day we will have a platform with millions of users and steemit will be many peoples first stepping stones into the crypto world so it would definitely be easier if we had everything integrated into the steem blockchain.
We may have a day when we have SBTC @kevinwong! :)
I understand just a small fraction of this but even then, it makes no real sense to me because the currency is just locked up and not exchanged. It means, you have to create an equivalent token or value on the steemit blockchain which does not add value to steemit's digital currencies because btc and other cryptocurrencies remain on their respective blockchains. Although this may work, it is for now, beyond my scope of complete understanding.
This just made my head explode with ideas!
I think the potential for integration with other projects might be the way-in for this concept.
For example, there are a handful of "Masternode Coins" as well as "Staking coins" that require a node to be configured a special way in order to join the network's overall mining weight.
You get rewarded based on your contributions.
There are ways to automate this process if you want to startup your own nodes and have it run as an auto-profit machine.
There are also other projects like Bitconnect which has a similar concept to STEEM on the back-end, where you handover your deposit as a loan to the pool, and you receive spendable rewards daily.
And I'm thinking of a new token called Pillar (PLR) which is looking to signup thousands of businesses to their wallet/exchange platform as smart contracts!
It may be possible to have Pillar run alongside STEEMIT, and it may have the option of doing things like:
The list is endless as to what might happen if we allow these projects to start shaking hands, we are at the cusp of the new age of computing!
Cool idea, hangs on the thread of if these Steem-generated tokens ala "SBTC" would actually have any value. I don't know if the market would accept them but I am curious to find out
@kevinwong,
Actually I like your idea, but I don't know how they could manage such multi currency in one block chain. Actually I am not a technical guy so no way to say anything...
Anyway your idea seems great and they way you describe about the practical problems I am really like that. Thank you very much for this valuable post!
really appreciate your effort!
Cheers~
Lol i have no idea as well. Side-chains and all that magic. Well if its a technical thing, I believe it can be done!