Does Steem Need More Than SMTs?

(NFT = Non-Fungible Tokens)

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Have you heard of Steem Engine? I'm very excited by this project, the smart contract and token creating sidechain by @aggroed and @yabapmatt. However, this app sparked a few musings for me, one of which is the question, Does Steem actually need anything beyond SMTs?

First, let's talk about SMTs, the Smart Media Tokens intended to have upvoting and emission capabilities similar to STEEM. The concept of SMTs are novel, not just another token. That said, SMTs' future existence is only speculative at this point as Steemit Inc. tightens its belt and intends to work on a slower pace than the previous roadmap.

Although SMTs are still just a goal, now, thanks to Steem Engine, we can begin tokenizing projects on Steem. This is important for many reason, which we can see from projects such as @actifit, @magicdice, @steem-bet and many more future projects. However, the possibilities do not end there.

How can NFTs be valuable for the Steem platform? If you think about the main aspects of the Steem platform, a key avenue for advancement should be NFTs as a means to profit artists, musicians, writers and others while offering their customers security and proof of ownership.

Do we really need the NFTS and smart contracts though? This is an interesting question, because there really is no reason we can't simply utilize Ethereum for NFT products and stick to SMTs for Steem. SMTs are hugely valuable for the services industries building on Steem, but NFTs are not necessarily, well, necessary. At the same time, @steemmonsters is a great example of the value NFTs could bring to Steem and the success of this project proves the desire in the Steem community to see this happening.

This is a caveat, as always... Steem seems to be almost contrary to the concept of NFTs, in so much as that Steem is intended to reward content, not buy it outright. Acknowledging this, we need to ask ourselves what's the most appropriate method for rewarding creators on Steem. Should we move forward with a focus on donation-style rewarding or push for a more traditional business model of selling the asset directly, in the form of NFTs?

A New Way to Buy?

Imagine a world, a beautiful and yet crazy world where you didn't have to buy stuff in order to get stuff. Inside this mythical world (that we'll name Steemoria) there are magical service tokens and product tokens that empower you to do fun and exciting things or obtain special possessions.

The only requirement for you to gain access to these service tokens and product tokens is voting for them. Whenever you vote for an item, a percentage of fortunate voters become rewarded with these tokens. But what about the voters that didn't get tokens? Every time they vote they open themselves to a chance of getting a token.

And in this glorious world, there are two cities, the first city is lush with paradise parks and futuristic facilities with doors that provide access for all citizens known as the Delegatorians, a wise and frugal people that own enough Mana to delegate to various VIP services. In the second city known as Fia Town a population lives in homes made of mud and stick and their primitive economy runs on a system of shiny rocks and paper. While we have the chance, we need to decide which city we want to end up in. Are you ready for that future?

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