Why Steem is unique in the Cryptosphere - A comparison of the features and history of the current top 7

In the top 7, we can see where the money sits in the Cryptosphere right now.

1. Bitcoin has the biggest share because it is by far the oldest, and its blockchain immutability is the strongest because it has the most onerous PoW algorithm.
2. Ethereum and Ethereum Classic have positions in the top 7, because of their potential, right now the value is speculative because there pretty much is nearly no actual dAPPs to speak of. The DAO went down in flames and people are still holding out for better apps to be built, but I think in the long run, while its programmability is a massive advantage, it is also a serious vulnerability - What is the Killer App?, is what matters. What will propel adoption? If Ethereum is just a blockchain/smart contract toolkit, its currency is way overvalued, and in fact, I think it will likely fork again for other reasons related to this.
3. Ripple - Again this is a factor of age. Really, Ripple is an odd one out in this list, because it is not really in the same category. It is a payment network, alone, nothing more. Its success has been mainly about how it has facilitated opening avenues for payments. So this is also why it is doing quite well. But not spectacularly so compared to the ones under it.
4. Litecoin - Basically this is bitcoin 2.0. The changed algorithm to scrypt reduced its asic exploitation, and it was one of the very first alts. There is a new crypto coming up soon called zCash, which has an even more asic-resistant PoW, it literally practically limits hashrate by memory bandwidth, which entails an entirely different approach to mining. zCash will be mineable by anyone in idle downtime, so it will never be short on hashpower. It also will be the first to implement Zero Knowledge Proofs, enabling the blockchain to be immutable but not reveal any data about who exactly has which coins, or who they sent them to, only that they moved.
5. Dash is the number 7 on this list at the moment. Dash is somewhat similar to Steem, in that it has a redistribution system. Dash allocates part of mining yields to the developers. The idea is that this makes the system self-funding. Dash is also the first to implement instant transactions and uses a similar system as Steem Witnesses in order to lock transactions in quickly before there is any chance of pushing a fork for a double spend.

Steem really is unique amongst these 7 contenders for the most investment funds in the Cryptosphere. It actually already has an anti-volatility smart contract (Steem Backed Dollars) and an interest-bearing long term smart contract called Steem Power. No other crypto has these measures built in.

Steem does not need to have funding specifically allocated to developers like Dash does. The developers participate in the competitive redistribution system on the forum, and because of their influence on the way the system works, they naturally gain a lot of votes because it is of interest especially to Whales, who have the biggest stake in the system.

In Dash, also, the marketing for the platform is also taken care of by the developers, who take part of the inflation from new mined currency, and divert it to this purpose as well. Steem, by contrast, farms this work out to each and every account, people can promote, or demote, the system as their opinion dictates. This is a model that resembles the Open Source community, and that itself is indeed the foundation of cryptocurrencies as a whole.

Application developers who are putting work into extending the platform also contribute significant value to Steem. Instead of centralising this process as Dash has done, instead, anyone with an idea, programming skills and the time and patience to do it, can create applications based on the Steem blockchain. If they make good money out of it, their idea is probably good and this will lead to further improvements from talented developers.

This does not have to be limited to the this blockchain. It can include both external centralised and distributed databases of various kinds that combine together with the central blockchain. I have a design for this, and I am sure I am not the first to think of it, and I think there will be a lot more of this. My proposal is aimed mainly at improving scalability of the discussion forum by adding filter mechanisms, so that people can fish out the stuff they are interested in, and ignore the rest. My idea allows for the possibility of a possibly fragmented, garbage-collecting chat system, that distributes chats through a blockchain, while not requiring massive storage to keep it, by expiring old posts. There could also be some kind of ranking system devised as well, that uses memberships and some kind of reputation system that help to further improve the behaviour of people on the system.

Others could devise sidechains that vest Steem in other ways, implementing more smart contracts than the existing ones. The Steem token, the volatility hedge Steem Backed Dollars, and the interest bearing Steem Power are not the only ways that contracts can be implemented. It is just the simplest ones. Others could create other ones that vest steem in other ways. It could back a blockchain secured system of lending or insurance, for example.

Unlike all others except Ethereum, Steem really is designed to be added to, and filtered. What you see now is not the end of the design, the designers are just focusing on their part, the core, and if the core works well, it will naturally accumulate additions. Unlike Ethereum, there is a basic set of financial instruments that are intended to diminish volatility and encourage retention of investment

There is a lot to be said for the genius of the design, in my view, it is headed for the moon. But not alone. Precisely because it is a social network.

The reason why Steem could move up the ladder, in my opinion, is because it takes into account investment strategies, it hedges against volatility, the development is entirely voluntary and paid for within the framework of the forum system, those who invest in it are incentivised by the outcome of their yields to be or hire good curators to help improve the content quality, and those who produce the best material tend to rise to the top.

Furthermore, there is no reason why some cryptocurrency systems cannot team up to enhance their respective userbases. Ethereum and Ethereum Classic, and Bitcoin also, have built in programmability that could assist in accelerating the development of collaborative subsystems that boost both platforms. But Ethereum/ETC have the problem of an overly complex programming system, and Bitcoin's is very simple but the development community is quite in gridlock over changes. Steem, on the other hand, could integrate these features more easily if the need was seen, since it is so new as yet.

Though there is something of the same developer gridlock in the core in common between Steem and Bitcoin. Subsystems don't necessarily have to be built on immutable PoW blockchains to be value-adds. Many aspects of Steem do not need this, since they are adjuncts to help regulate behaviour and the voting process in ways that do not directly depend on the core infrastructure.

Steem has both marketing, labor for development, and standard types of investment instruments built into it. This is what attracts investors. It will take time since the platform is still in development, but it's off to a running start already.