On the STEEM chain lately, a lot of buzzing has been made about a mythical event called S.P.U.D. Did the sound of it reach you already or are you still in the blind about it? Whatever the case may be that's what I would like to cover today, express my perspective on it and get all of the uninitiated in the know about the magical S.P.U.D.

It has been first conceived in the mind of @streetstyle and the day (May 1st) marks the day of S.P.U.D. (Steem Power Up Day). He explained it best here:

Therefore, for me, STEEM POWER UP DAY is a testament to my belief that the Steem Blockchain is one of the best if not the best blockchain the world currently has access to. Powering up on that day is proof that I believe in the Steem Community and its potential to make for a better World for all through the fruits of one’s own time and efforts. Steem Power Day is INVESTING in yourself!

This statement resonates with me deeply and I hope it does the same for you. Especially the thought that Powering Up is an investment in oneself. This thought I carried with me for the longest time now, and it is one of the main driving forces of my immense desire to keep accumulating more Steem Power.

The Power it gives when in the right form is unlike anything I have ever experienced before and it perplexes me to see how many "crypto-enthusiasts" out there still don't recognize this pulverizing force of Vested STEEM i.e. Steem Power. SO much so, that I'll try to put it to words the best I can in an attempt to unearth this diamond and present to you its true beauty, potential and power to the magnitude of which you may not be ready to perceive.

The way I see Steem Power is in the form of an onion where each layer represents another use-case. The true beauty of this onion is that it is unnatural as it just keeps growing on a never-ending cycle and it keeps adding new use-cases as time goes by. It will never cease to keep adding new layers and it will keep doing this indefinitely — as long as there are devs involved in building on STEEM, users creating content, businesses interested in utilizing STEEM for any purpose, projects and dapps building on top of it — Steem Power will keep adding new use-cases under its belt, or over the existing layers in the case of the onion metaphor.

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Because it is so structured, but mostly because its true potential is still not expressed to its fullest capacity (and it may never be), it's imperative that we analyze the current use-cases of Steem Power and hypothesize some which may be materialized in the future.

Base Layer

_{Upvotes/Curation}

Having more Steem Power increases your influence on this chain of blocks. Having more will increase the $ value of your upvotes and curation rewards. Thus, you can award more freshly minted cryptocurrency (STEEM and SBD) to authors of your liking and consequently gift yourself more curation rewards.

With a click of a button, one can almost instantaneously create value for a person across the globe, rewarding him/her for time and effort put into content creation, while simultaneously creating value for oneself in the process.

This alone is something we have never had the power to do before, yet we overlook this fact and take for granted this exorbitant utility offered only to the bearer of Steem Power.

Second Layer

_{Incentivizing Machine}

In the world we live in today, there are but few more potent stimulus than the potential of monetary rewards. This is where Steem Power grows into an Incentivizing Machine but only when in the right hands, of course. If used maliciously, no incentive is derived from it.

On the other hand, when used positively, Steem Power or more precisely the incentive in the form of a reward for a certain desirable activity, has proven to be a mighty driving force for users to do all sorts of things to obtain it.

We've seen it win us listings on exchanges, entice people all over the world to keep our Mother Nature clean (@cleanplanet), get them to get into shape by walking, running and exercising (@actifit), translate millions of strings of letters into a wide array of different languages, punch out code for open-source projects, create stunning graphic designs for projects all over the world, film educational videos for others to absorb knowledge from (@utopian-io), answer/ask intriguing questions (@musing), explore the depths of the entangled parallel reality the World Wide Web in a quest for cool, new projects (@steemhunt), create a staggering amount of high-quality content (@curie) and the list goes on, and on, and on.

The Incentivizing Machine itself is still yet highly under-developed and grossly underestimated, imho.

Just think about what a behemoth like Nike, Samsung or YouTube could do with their vast wealth if they invested even a minute percentage of it in Steem Power and started utilizing it for a loyalty programme of some sort, or used it to incentivize certain desired activity.

Plainly put into perspective, either one of them, or any other corporation for that matter, could double their user's satisfaction simply by utilizing Steem Power to reward their users appropriately instead of hoarding the entirety of their profits for themselves.

Third Layer

_{Delegation - more than meets the eye}

By exploring this layer, one comes to the conclusion that VC's, angel investors and the likes are outright retarded for not utilizing Steem Power to fund the development of projects, startups and dapps.

This is by far my favorite use-case for Steem Power to date. It truly has no match and it is extremely hard for me to conceive something that would be on par with the stupendous capability of invest without investing one can partake in through Steem Power Delegation.

To better understand why VC's, angel investors and the likes, who aren't involved in Steem are outright retarded for passing on this outrageous opportunity, one must first be reminded of their modus operandi.

They invest millions of dollars into tens, sometimes hundreds of startups, expecting 99% to fail and one to WIN. The one that WINS does so by such a magnitude that it dwarfs any potential losses the 99% of L's might have caused them. In the process, they make millions, sometimes billions of dollars in profit, not by playing the investment game smart, but by playing the numbers game, "smartly".

While they might feel like they have outwitted the game by doing so, they couldn't be further from the truth as the same game can be plaid out much more profitably on STEEM through Steem Power Delegations and investing without really investing.

What do I mean?

On STEEM users can invest in projects in form of Steem Power Delegations and in return acquire tokens some of which may hodl significant value in the future. By doing so, "investors" support projects playing a pivotal role in their future success, without ever giving any money away, it always stays in their possession. They simply delegate (borrow) their Steem Power in return for a share of their reward pool of tokens. By doing so, they support projects as if they were investing in regular startups just this time, the 99% of L's won't cost them a single cent, while the one WINNER will still make a hefty profit.

In the end, the prospective investor not only gains a huge profit, but he/she was never at risk of losing their initial investments.

This is groundbreaking to such a degree I'm amazed to see how so many people still overlook this astonishing new way of investing. I suspect that when they learn about it, this aspect of Steem Power is what's going to provide a massive amount of interest for obtaining it in the near future.

Fourth Layer

_{Basic Income}

This is another big one. By delegating to certain services such bidbots, @steembasicincome, @qurator, and others, Steem Power Hodlers can attain a stream of basic income pouring into their digital pockets in form of upvotes on their articles, giving them a piece of mind knowing that if nothing else, at least they are making their STEEM's work hard for them to create new STEEM's every day.

If you have read Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad you know how vital it is not to work for dollars (STEEM) but rather make your dollars work hard for you! If you haven't read the book already, I highly suggest anyone seeking financial freedom and an escape from the modern-day slavery we are subjected to, to read this great book. It's definitely worth your time.

This is perfectly exemplified in the manner of which Steem Power delegated to the right projects, generates income on a daily basis without any significant amount of effort needed other than the act of delegating and writing about how you crushed it at the gym today.

Overlooking this aspect of Steem Power is costing many of you significant amount of STEEM proportionate to the amount of Steem Power you hodl. Take notes, do your own research and invest without investing to turn a quick buck. Day after day, year after year.

Fifth Layer

_"Interest"

This is going to be a quick one as it does not take much to explain. By hodling STEEM in its almighty form Steem Power, one is subject to receiving around 2% yearly interest based on the amount of Steem Power one hodls. This interest is paid out on a daily basis but for some, the amount is so minute they don't even realize it.

See how much Steem Power you currently have, don't claim any rewards for the next 24h and see the numbers increase!

As if I needed any further motivation to escape the plagued banking system (I don't), 2% APR is more than people get for holding their money in the bank in some countries. The most absurd case being countries like Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden which impose negative interest rates on those braindead enough to leave their money in the bank.

Meaning, that they not only suffer from the devaluation of their wealth through ninja-shadow-taxes (inflation) which is generally somewhere in the 2% range, but they also soak up another .1% - .75% loss each year! So, for the idiots living in mentioned countries who keep their money in the bank, instead of losing 3% per year, you could have gained at least 2% annually just for buying STEEM and Powering it UP!

Sixth Layer

_{Compounding Behemoth}

Combining two layers into one (Basic Income and Interest) one can easily come up to a figure of 18% APR on any amount of Steem Power one might hodl and "invest" (delegate) smartly. This interest is paid out on a daily basis, and it never fails to deliver. As it delivers, your interest grows as your baseline of Initial Principal i.e. Steem Power increases. Meaning, that your interest is creating interest thus, it's compounding interest and it is growing your Steem Power in a much faster pace than it would if the interest was not compounding.

This is so powerful yet widely misunderstood so let me put it into perspective. Below is the calculation of compounded interest with the baseline of 10k Steem Power (represented in USD).

As you can see, just by hodling Steem Power, delegating it to the right projects and posting about your killer gym routine one can become relatively wealthy over a proportionately short amount of time just by utilizing Steem Power's Compounding Behemoth Super Saiyan ability.

If the magnitude of this is failing to reach your neurons, let me present it to you in a more easily comprehensible manner.

From 10k STEEM to 150k STEEM real quick.

If you are able to manifest the patience of a Shaolin Monk (not Power Down for 15 years) and post around 5457 epic gym routines over the course of 15 years you will amass around 150k STEEM which at that point should be worth at least 100$ per token, meaning that you are now worth a cool 15 million USD.

And the best thing about it is that this doesn't count in the additional upvotes you would get from other community members, so depending on how well your content is accepted on here, this number could be significantly higher.

Now that's something to look forward to eh'?

Seventh Layer

_{Everything I Might Have Missed}

I don't proclaim to be the Yoda of Steem thus I realize that I might have missed out to pinpoint some other great use-cases for Steem Power.

This is where you come in with your suggestions. Let us know in the comments down below, what use-case for Steem Power have I failed to mention.

Future use-cases

Now that we've discussed what's currently possible, let's take a leap forward in time to see what else could Steem Power possibly be used for in the future.

Buying anything in form of upvotes

Whether it's a cup of coffee at Starbucks, Amazon gift card, Netflix subscription, a Cryptokitty, a SteemMonster card, or anything else for that matter, I see a future where we can buy anything with an upvote.

While this may be a little far-fetched, especially at these low prices, there will come a time when STEEM will be stable at 10$ and will never go much lower than that, I'm sure about that.

It's then when we will be able to create such services which will allow us to pay for shit in upvotes. That's something I'm really looking forward to as it will bring about a whole nother utility for Steem Power which I know for a fact many Steemians would be eager to use.

Cross-platform upvoting

Imagine if you could upvote a post on Facebook, picture on Instagram, Medium article, a tweet on Twitter or a video on Youtube. That would be an epic way to spread awareness about Steem and bring in a massive amount of new users on here. This may sound impossible now but consider that nothing really is impossible and anything can be created which is first conceived in the mind of man. The only reason why we may think that something is impossible is because we can't perceive it as it is currently not possible. Just think about the man that told the world he found a way to transmit spoken word around the globe through the ether requiring no wires to do the job. I'm sure people thought he was crazy and that such a thing is impossible. Not long after, we were introduced to radio communication.

Going by the same logic and disregarding the word impossible, I'm convinced that witty developers some of whom might be reading this article now, will find a way to code this out.

They have already devised a way to facilitate cross-platform tips in form of STEEM for Twitter, if I'm not mistaken. So, if they can make that a reality, I don't see a reason why cross-platform upvoting would be impossible to create.

Loans

I envision a future where anyone can get a loan in form of STEEM based on the amount of Steem Power they hodl. I'm fully aware that @neoxian is already running a similar service but what I'm thinking about is something of a different magnitude. Something like Maker DAO.

This is something Stinc could have created a long time ago. I mean, they do have a bunch of STEEM that just sits there in their wallets, collecting digital dust over time. Wouldn't it be great if they created such a service and actually made something out of it other than the 2% default APR? They could have even use that new stream of income to ease the pressure of the programmatic dumps they have been executing ever since the first block was mined.

Moreover, they could have brought a whole nother community on here. Imagine all of the investors who taken out a loan using Maker DAO finding out they can get more while paying less, through STEEM Loans.

A thousand dapps

What this all boils down to is utilizing Steem Power for upvotes, again. Nothing new, but the concept I find rather thrilling. I can conceive quite a couple different ideas where either — dapps reward users in form of upvotes for certain activity for example: watch ads and at the end of the week get 90% of the ad revenue in form of upvotes — or where users can upvote dapps posts to receive in-game items.

Imagine how great it would be if you could spend a couple of upvotes per day to get a SteemMonsters card of your liking or a Cryptokitty, or resources for @nextcolony or any other game for that matter.

This is something which I'm rather confused about dapps on Steem not utilizing yet. The up-side is immense and so are the long-term benefits for both the dapp and the users.

In retrospect, I guess this should go under "Buying anything in form of upvotes" but I think it deserves a separate mention.

The possibilities are endless

These are just a couple of ideas I had in mind which I'm sure I won't work on, others I might actually create when I'll have the necessary funds to pay for development so I won't share them with you today.

As you can see, Steem Power can be used for a fairly large number of things now. The only real limitation is our mind. What will we be able to use it for in the future depends solely upon the interest in building new layers. That's a motivation which I'm sure won't diminish over time.

The bottom line is that

With all the above-mentioned layers of the Steem Power onion, it is not hard to realize how uniquely undervalued it currently is. I believe that STEEM is the most undervalued cryptocurrency to date. It's the underdog of crypto and we all know how great it feels to see the underdog prevail against all odds.

That's something most of us will get to experience somewhere down the line.

Similarly to STEEM, I too, like many of you, am the underdog in life. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I didn't go on vacations in the summertime, nor did I go skiing during the winter breaks and the worst thing of all, I never got a chance to travel outside of my own fucking country. I never had much, yet I always aspired to big achievements and not only did I aspire to greatness, I was, and still am convinced that I will achieve it. You will get to read about it on here in a couple of years.

Same goes for STEEM.

While it's currently grossly undervalued and underestimated, only a small cap coin among the vast sea of thousands of other coins, I know that at one point in time STEEM will reach its true potential both in market cap and in utility. Maybe it won't come in the next two, three or five years but I couldn't care less because I truly know it will happen and knowing that — STEEM will evolve into a magnificent beast we are expecting it to be now when it's just in the infancy phase — gives me a peace of mind.

#PatienceIsKey

And for the impatient, I got only one message:

You must enjoy the journey or you won't enjoy yourself when you reach your destination because no matter what you think your destination currently is, believe me when I say that when you reach it, you will tend to aim higher. Thus, the journey is perpetual, all the way to the point where you leave your earthly vessel and if you can't enjoy the journey you will go through life in misery.

Getting back to SPUD and what it represents

I would like to quote @streetstyle once again for you to better understand what is our goal for this day:

-For those who can, power up a little, some or all Your Steem if possible.
-For those that need or use Steem for daily needs, we kindly ask if possible, to sell or trade your Steem the day before SPUD, or on the following day.
-For those that are currently Powering Down, we ask those who are able to, to stop their Power Down for 24 hours of SPUD, and then if need be, to re-start their Power Down the following day after SPUD.
-We ask those that hold Steem or trade Steem on the exchanges to not trade or sell STEEM for the 24 hours of SPUD if possible. Also, to take down ANY type of SELL order on the markets as well for the 24hrs. of STEEM POWER UP DAY.

YES We Can Make a Difference, in fact we are making a difference everyday that the STEEM BLOCKCHAIN lives and breathes through each and every one of us STEEMIANS.

As a testament of allegiance to my belief in STEEM and what I think it has the potential of achieving, on May 1st, I'm going to Power Up the most I can afford to without restraining the liquidity necessary in order to go about my days on here.

If you feel even remotely the same way, I encourage you to do the Power Up some Steem on May 1st.

On the other hand, if you feel otherwise, share your thoughts with us in the comment section.