Letters to Jack Dorsey - Steem Torch

Artwork by @andrarchy

Hi Jack,

I still hope six degrees of separation will connect us one day and I will be able to tell you the story of Steem in person. Until then I will continue talking to you through my letters. Today let me tell you about Steem Torch. Steem Torch is an experiment that was started 9 months ago to demonstrate the speed and trust in transferring value on Steem social network. I was inspired by the bitcoin community’s Lightning Torch experiment that was happening on Twitter. After collaborating with a couple of Steemians (that’s what we call Steem users) I sent out the first Steem Torch transfer with 50 Steem and a link to the rules in the memo of the transaction. You can read more about Steem Torch's rules here.

Steem Torch has traveled across the globe and visited all continents except Antarctica. Even though we have Steemian photographers who have been to Antarctica. I wouldn’t be surprised if it makes it to Antarctica as well. Steem is a global community. Currently, Steem Torch has been passed 246 times and accumulated 955 Steem. I have no doubt that Steem number would even be higher if rules didn’t state the maximum amount users can add to it is 1 Steem. Some have ignored that rule and have added higher amounts. You may look at the number of transfers is at 246 in 9 months and not be too impresses. But compared to the billions of Twitter users, in the network of tens of thousands that is super impressive. Not to mention the main reason the number is a bit low is how serious users take the responsibility of transferring the entrusted Steem Torch.

Until now, I am proud to say that Steem Torch has demonstrated an enormous amount of trust that exists on Steem. Not only Steem is a trustless and secure network, but it is also full of incredible and trustworthy people. Any user in the chain could have easily pocketed the funds and that would be the end of it. In fact, there was some skepticism in the begging predicting just that. However, Steem Torch Keeper has demonstrated what a great and trustworthy community Steem is.

Among initial supporters of the experiment are @theycallmedan, @thejohalfiles, @themarkymark, @abh12345, and many more. If you have heard thoughts and visions of these folks I have no doubt you would realize that decentralized standards for the future of social media are already in works. It is here on Steem. Not convinced yet? Let me tell you more.

In the beginning for the Steem Torch experiment the end count for user transfers, I put as 10000. It was super optimistic of me, as I knew we had 10k+ active users. What I didn’t take into account is how seriously Steem Torch Keepers would take their responsibility in finding trustworthy users to transfer to which takes time to think it through, communicate and then execute. It was suggested I lower the count to lower thousands. So I ended up changing the count to 1337 because I liked @acidyo’s prediction number. So, at 1337th transfer, the experiment ends with success. By the was Steem posts are immutable after 7 days. I was able to change the count number within 7 days. Users can edit them within that time period. After that, all posts remain on the chain and the internet forever.

Let me be clear, transfers themselves on Steem globally take few seconds. They are super fast. Now the social layer we have on top of Steem is pretty significant. People on Steem are very responsible once they are called for a task. So some users take time deciding who to transfer to, to make sure the next user follows the rules of Steem Torch. Until now trust has not been broken. Steem Torch has been transferred among whales, orcas, dolphins, minnows, etc. I have seen users will super-low SP not breaking the trust.

By the way, @themarkymark has created a bot account @steemtorch that keeps track of all transfers and if you are interested can follow and track the progress of the Steem Torch. Even if you didn’t, Steem blockchain keeps all the records safe and secure and one could easily write a script to see the chain of Steem Torch transaction. I am not a developer, but still, know how easily it can be achieved. That is another power of Steem. Not pro developers can get up to speed how Steem works programmatically in no time and integrate it into their projects.

Soon after Steem Torch experiment started, @stayoutoftherz started a parallel experiment called Steem Fackel that involved the German-speaking community on Steem. That is right we have many regional communities. You name a country, we probably have a community there. They have set a more humble goal of 250 transfers. That experiment went super fast and ended with success months ago.

Seven months ago something very interesting happened. One of our Steemians @hauptmann received both #steemtorch and #steemfackel the same day. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that. You can’t plan this stuff. They just happen and they do it is amazing to see. What a lucky Steemian Ferdinand is!

I was going to tell you more about how Steem wallet works. But I don’t want to bore you too quick. This is already way longer than 280 characters :). I will tell you more about the brilliance of Steem wallet. Prepare to be mind blown.

Best regards,

GG

Read the previous letters:

1. Letter to Jack Dorsey - Decentralized
2. Letters to Jack Dorsey - Six degrees of separation